The Lucknow Sentinel, 2015-03-04, Page 5Youth in the Economy
Submitted
In the spring of 2014, the
Senate Liberals opened our
Caucus doors to Canadians.
Through their Open Caucus
initiative the Senate Liberals
aim to leam to discuss issues of
national importance with a
panel of expert wit-
nesses. Though this effort is
hosted by the Senate Liberals,
the Caucus encourage the par-
ticipation ofall members of Par-
liament, and strive to include a
variety of points of view during
these sessions. The public is
encouraged to attend as well.
On Wednesday February
25th, the Open Caucus sat to
learn about the increasing
pressures on young individuals
in Canada today. Already fac-
ing high rates of unemploy-
ment, Canadians 45 and under
are being pressured by rising
home prices and increasing
student debt, forcing them to
delay milestones such as buy-
ing a home or starting a fam-
ily. Compounding these issues
is a decrease in real wages and
secure employment when
compared to the experiences
of their parents.
James Knowles of the Con-
ference Board of Canada noted
that relative incomes for young
Canadians are lowertodaythan
theywere for their parents and
that, "young Canadians are
going to face hard choices
about which of life's milestones
are more important to them. Is
it raising children, or owning a
home, or saving for retirement,
because with relatively lower
incomes they are going to strug-
gle to achieve these." Those
thoughts were echoed by Paul
Kershaw, associate professor at
the University of British Colum-
bia and founder of the Genera-
tion Squeeze campaign. "In
1976 it took the typical 25 year
old working full time 5 years to
save for a 20% down payment
on an average home...today
across the country it takes twice
as long, 10years"
The quality of job prospects
is also looking relatively bleak
when compared to a genera-
tion ago. As Michelle Biss
of Canada Without Poverty
noted, the types of employment
options for young people are
often precarious. "There cer-
tainly is something to be said
about the reality that the types
of employment available to
young people now...are very
different than the realities 20 or
30 years ago," she said, "the
employment options... are often
precarious work...part time
work, and not long term work"
Compounding these pres-
sures is the almost total focus
on programs for Canadians 65
and over. Generation
Squeeze recently released a
study showing that between
$33-40,000 a year is spent per
person on individuals 65 and
over, on important programs
such as medical care and old
age security. "By contrast, Mr.
Kershaw noted, "we spend a
fraction of that, between $10
-11,500 a year per person under
45 on everything...grade
school, medical care, post -sec-
ondary... everything in the
kitchen sink adds up to less
than we spend on medical care
each year for my grandmother"
To address these hurdles, Mr.
Knowles suggested that univer-
sities and colleges need to bet-
ter align their programs with
labour market needs. Today's
youth are completing post -sec-
ondary education only to find
that their skill sets do not match
those desired by employers.
"They are spending a lot of
money to get this education
that doesn't actually train them
to do anything that is useful in
the workplace," he said.
Julian Deans of Futurepre-
neur Canada noted that par-
ents and schools need to get
out of the mindset that the
path they took to obtain long
term, stable employment also
applies to their children.
Entrepreneurial skills, which
are becoming increasingly
important in today's job mar-
ket, are not yet appropriately
reflected in our approaches to
training young Canadians.
Businesses also have a
responsibility to train young
Canadians. Mr. Kershaw noted
that "a generation ago the pri-
vate sector viewed a degree as a
signal that a person was com-
petentwith a range of skills, and
then trained them for specific
on -the -job -needs:'
Young Canadians also need
a policy shift by all levels of gov-
ernment. Mr. Kershaw sug-
gested a 'New Deal' for young
Canadian families is needed
through "nuanced investment
in family policy that would
make family time more afford-
able.... and by reducing the
costs of childcare, which costs
more than university tuition"
To make this happen, the
panel agreed that young peo-
ple need to organize and get
more engaged in politics at
the provincial and federal lev-
els to make it politically
worthwhile for parties to
include programs for young
Canadians in their platforms.
The Senate Liberal Caucus
will be holding its next meeting
on March 11th to discuss
income inequality, and will
discuss youth engagement in
politics onApril lst.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 • Lucknow Sentinel 5
letter to the editor
Protecting Your Property Rights
Dear Editor:
Winter weather has not
halted construction of wind
turbine projects. In ACW Town-
ship, K2 Wmd is erecting wind
turbines as fast as they can. This
means transportation of blades
and other components on icy
roads and laneways. It also
means a potential route for
impacts on lands owned by
non -participating landowners.
K2 Wind is applying sand
and who knows what else on
the laneways leading to turbine
sites. However, this material is
not always staying just on the
laneways. A few weeks ago I
discovered a situation where
this material spread by K2
Wind had affected my land.
The abutting farm to my prop-
erty has a turbine laneway that
runs right beside my farm. This
laneway is only a few feet away
from the property boundary.
K2 Wind spread sand over this
laneway. Subsequent to
spreading this sand, the
laneway was plowed/blown
and this material was shoved/
blown through the fence (dam-
aging the fence itself) and
deposited onto my land.
Blowing or shoving snow
onto your land can damage
your fences or any crop such
as winter wheat, hay. There is
also the issue of liability. If
large chunks of compacted
snow and ice are thrown onto
your land and someone hits
this when snowmobiling,
who is responsible?
Since the sand was being
spread during extremely cold
temperatures (well below
freezing), I also asked the
question - was anything added
to the sand to prevent it from
clumping and forming blocks?
In their response to me, K2
Wind has claimed that the
material they used had no salt
in it. At this point I am waiting
for the Ministry of the Environ-
ment to get back to me with
the results of their analysis of
the deposited material to verify
that claim. But regardless of
what was in the material, it still
contaminated my land. Wind
companies have no rights to
blow or plow snow, sand or
any other material onto abut-
ting land that is not part of the
project. Once again, as they
did with the use of toxic
cement dust during construc-
tion of the laneways, K2 Wmd's
actions have shown a total dis-
respect for the property rights
of residents in this township.
So, a heads up to landown-
ers who have neighbouring
farms with turbine laneways
close to your land. It is up to
you to protect your property
rights. Monitor the material
that is being spread on these
laneways, especially if con-
struction activity is taking
place, and make sure that
this is not being deposited
onto your land (wind action
could also blow this material
onto your land). If you dis-
cover this situation and want
to protect your property, take
samples and contact the
MOE enforcement branch
(1-800-265-3783 for ACW
residents). You could also try
calling the K2 Wind "quick
response" number (519-441-
1067) though their definition of
quick can often mean waiting
weeks for a response.
Yours truly,
George Alton
Purple Grove News
Purple Grove WI
Our sympathy is sent out to
the families of Irma Slessor and
Vem Norman.
Congratulations to William,
Alayna and Ethan Houghton of
Michigan who were recently
honoured to become members
of the National Elementary
Honour Society. Grandparents
Shirley and Doug MacDon-
ald were pleased to hear the
good news.
Betty and Art Helm visited
with Deanna and Morley Scott
on Sunday.
All the folks that attended the
Purple Grove Card Party on Fri-
day evening were glad to have an
opportunity to get out and visit
with friends and neighbours.
Thanks Marilyn and Don Reid
for hosting the event.
Largaret McInnes and family
were sorry to hear of the passing
of her great-nephew Wayne
Anderson of the Barrie area.
Janice and Stephen Elliott of
Blind River visited with June
and Earl Elliott of "R" Villa last
week and with other relatives
in the area.
Margaret and Stewart Lane
visited with Mary Anne
Kukoly and Wilma and Cecil
Sutton during the week
Jim and Fran Farrell returned
home Monday afternoon the
23rd to a Bruce County welcome
of - 20 C with snow squalls and
roads dosed after touring in Aus-
tralia and NewZeland. They had
a wonderful time catching up
with cousins, Jane and Tom Beer
of Docklands, Melbourne;
they attended the International
Dairy Week at Tatura Park,
Victoria where the Illawarra
Champion Cow was the
Supreme Breed Champion cow.
They met with Laurie and Sandra
Chittick, BecGellandherparents
Ron and Rhonda, from Sheppar-
ton and Kyabram and toured
organic farms in the area. Back to
Melbourne and found friends
from the 2002 Great Britain tour -
Jim and Christine Ware and Rob
and Heather Kimm. Spent four
days with them and their families
too. Got around Australia and
New Zealand great - good thing
the tour directors are on the ball
and bus drivers know the
roads. Everything went very
smoothly. Got out to the great
Ocean Road to the twelve apos-
tles, walked around Ayers Rock,
snorkled at the Great Barrier Reef
and climbed the Sydney
Bridge. Over to New Zealand the
tour started at Auckland to
Rotoura and then Christchurch -
still recovering from 4 major
earthquakes 2010-2011. Dave
and Joan Black send greetings
to folks back home. We took a
train through the Southern
Alps up into the mountains to the
Glaciers , then Arthur's Pass and
Greymouth, over to Queenston, a
day trip up Melford Sound, did
the Skippers Canyon- one road in
and narrow! Spectacular moun-
tains, deserts, lakes, forests and
waterfalls! Lots of wonderful food
and great folks to travel with. Its
certainly one big wonderful
world, but as the saying goes,
there's no place like home!
Reine and Ron de Gans and
Jim and Fran Farrell attended
the funeral of their aunt Gerda
Dam of Guelph on Sunday.
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