Canada's NDP

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May 3rd, 2019

A Youth Policy as a Picture of this Government: Another Liberal Failure

Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP Youth Critic, issued the following statement:

"A federal youth policy has been in the works for years now. Many consultations allowed basic findings to be established and shared by all participants. Among other things, these consultations stressed the importance of fighting against climate change, of investing in health and accounting for Canada’s colonial policies towards First Nations, Métis and Inuit youth. All youth, stakeholders and organizations had held high hopes that Justin Trudeau would come through for them.

But now, after two years of hard work, thousands of consultations and a summit, the Liberal government is only offering a statement of principles and vague promises.

It is incredibly frustrating and disappointing! There is nothing to force the government to act and live up to its commitments. And nothing to allow youth to make decisions about the public policies that impact on them.

Canada’s youth policy was supposed to be a plan, with precise steps, follow-up mechanisms and funding for its implementation, and was supposed to allow young people to participate in the decision-making process. It’s in this context that I recently tabled a bill to create a Federal Youth Commissioner’s office. I invite the Liberal government to ignore political partisanship and immediately implement mechanisms to allow youth to be heard."