Ottawa, ON — Garnett Genuis, Conservative Shadow Minister for Employment, released the following statement regarding the bad job numbers in the Labour Force Survey published today by Statistics Canada: 

“Today, Statistics Canada confirmed what Canadians are seeing in their day-to-day lives – Liberal policies have led to a full-blown unemployment crisis.

“Unemployment has now risen to 7 percent – a number not seen since 2016, outside of the COVID period. This marks the third consecutive monthly increase in the unemployment rate, as unemployment has been steadily rising for 2 years, and Canada has experienced virtually no employment growth since January. 

“Things are especially desperate for students seeking summer employment. Unemployment among returning students is up more than 3 percent compared to last year. More than 1 in 5 Canadian students are now unemployed, the highest rate since 1999, excluding COVID. This is a desperate situation for young people seeking opportunities and trying to pay for their education.

“Unemployment rates in Ontario’s major cities have also risen sharply to 10.8 percent in Windsor, 9.1 percent in Oshawa, 8.8 percent in Toronto, and 8.4 percent in Barrie. Toronto’s unemployment rate is at the highest it’s been in over a decade, outside of COVID, and Ontario lost more than 25,000 manufacturing jobs since last May alone.

“In total, there were 1.6 million unemployed Canadians in May, an increase of 13.8 percent or 191,000 people from this time last year. The average duration unemployed Canadians have spent searching for work has also risen to an average of 21.8 weeks, up from 18.4 weeks in May 2024.

“And things are projected to get even worse. TD forecasts that there will be 100,000 job losses by the third quarter of this year. Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada Governor said on Wednesday that ‘businesses are generally telling us that they plan to scale back hiring.’

“It’s clear that the same Liberal Ministers with the same Liberal policies are delivering even worse results. Canadians need a real plan that will unleash Canada’s economic potential and deliver powerful paycheques for our people.

“As Conservatives, we believe in removing barriers to work, reducing the tax burden on working Canadians, getting government out of the way so businesses can grow and hire, and fixing immigration. 

“Canadians deserve a government that works for those who work and that works for students and young people desperate to pursue their dreams.”