During the May 8th question period in the House of Commons, leader of the federal Liberal Party, Justin Trudeau brought up an important point regarding the way the government is spending its money. He objected to the Conservative action plan advertisements that were playing during the NHL hockey playoffs.

Trudeau has valid concerns about Canadian young people, and as he pointed out during yesterday’s house of commons session:

“[Y]oung people need our help to get job experience [...] people watching the hockey playoffs last night were subjected to the famous action plan ads. Hockey fans have to pay for these ads, which cost the equivalent of 32 summer jobs for our youth.”

Starting a career is always difficult, and Canadian youth need support from their government instead of being subjected to propaganda that is at the expense of Canadian tax payers. Due to lack of entry level positions, youth have had to put off launching into lives that are fully financially independent.  Sorensen and Gillis echo Trudeau’s sentiment in their article titled “The New Underclass” published in the January edition of Macleans Magazine.

“42 per cent of Canadians between 20 and 29 are living with their parents—frustration is clearly setting in.”    

So with Canadian youth clearly experiencing difficulties finding jobs to the point where they are unable to even live on their own without parental support -- thus delating their launch into adulthood -- why does Mr. Harper feel it right to spend millions of dollars in propaganda advertisments for his party?

Justin Trudeau said it best  yesterday in the House of Commons when he simply requested that the Prime Minister “[P]ull these ads and invest in summer job programs for our youth.” 

Mr. Trudeau seems to understand the plight of Canada’s young workers better than the Prime Minister himself. Perhaps Prime Minister Harper would do well do think about what citizens in this country need rather than focussing on advancing the interests of his own party.