On Tuesday morning Compton-Stanstead MP Marie-Claude Bibeau announced that her riding will receive $821,992 as part of the Canada Summer Jobs program. In total, 114 different organizations will receive a portion of the funding, which would double the number of jobs created for youth since 2015, Bibeau claimed.
Canada Summer Jobs is a part of the government’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy. It aims to provide youth with meaningful and valuable job opportunities while supporting non-profit organizations and small businesses across the country. The program provides wage subsidies to those organizations to create job opportunities for young people aged 15 to 30 years.
Representatives from four different organizations that will receive funding from the program based in Ayers’ Cliff were present for the announcement, which took place in the College Massawippi building. The announcement was made over Facebook to allow for social distancing.
Due to the evolving COVID situation, some changes were made to the program this summer to help out employers. The wage subsidy for all accepted applicants was increased to 100 per cent, where private businesses only received a 50 per cent subsidy last year. It’s hoped that this extra funding will enrich the job market for youth while helping keep some small businesses above the water during the largest recession in over 70 years. In total, the program will create 210 jobs in the Stanstead-Compton region this year.
“We had numerous youths in our region who decided to roll back their sleeves this summer and who contributed to the exceptional collective effort that was necessary due to the pandemic,” Minister Bibeau said. She emphasized the importance of the work opportunities provided by the program, giving youth the chance to use their time over the summer to help out local organizations.
Over $800,000 in summer funding for small businesses and organizations
By Matthew Sylvester, Special to The Record
