Jason Kenney: Canada Job Grant will lead to guaranteed jobs

Details announced in Tuesday's federal budget aimed at delivering guaranteed jobs under the proposed Canada Job Grant shouldn't come as a surprise to the provinces, Employment Minister Jason Kenney told CBC News in an exclusive interview Wednesday.

"What we simply clarified in yesterday's budget is what I've said all along, which is that if provinces choose not to deliver the job grant, we will deliver it directly to Canadians so they get good jobs," Kenney said in an exclusive interview with CBC's Julie Van Dusen on Wednesday.

N.S. may face training crisis

Up to 800 low-skilled Nova Scotians will lose access to education programs if federal funding changes go ahead, according to community learning groups.

Ottawa is setting up the Canada Jobs Grant program, which offers up to $5,000 for an individual to be trained for a specific job. Funding would be matched by employers and provincial governments, for up to $15,000 per person.

Why the so-called Canada Job Grant isn’t working

Schemes to place hard-to-employ young people in jobs tend to come and go. BladeRunners is the exception. The British Columbia program has been around since 1994, long enough that even its managers aren’t entirely clear on how it got its name—and for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to single it out as a proven model. BladeRunners helps unemployed 15- to 30-year-olds—mostly Aboriginal, sometimes homeless, often with histories of substance abuse—learn basic skills and land several key weeks of job experience. Counsellors are on call around the clock when participants run into the inevitable problems.

Advertising Standards Canada: No Sanctions For False Government Ads

OTTAWA - Government advertisers are free to blatantly misrepresent services or programs without public censure from the ad industry's self-regulatory watchdog, so long as they stop airing the offending ads after citizens complain.

The Conservative government's $2.5 million campaign last spring to promote the Canada Jobs Grant, a proposed job-training program that still doesn't exist almost a year later, is a case in point.

Ad industry self-regulatory group won’t name and shame false government campaign

OTTAWA - Government advertisers are free to blatantly misrepresent services or programs without public censure from the ad industry's self-regulatory watchdog, so long as they stop airing the offending ads after citizens complain.

The Conservative government's $2.5 million campaign last spring to promote the Canada Jobs Grant, a proposed job-training program that still doesn't exist almost a year later, is a case in point.

Both Global News and PostMedia News have revealed that Advertising Standards Canada, the "national, not-for-profit, advertising self-regulatory body," chided the government for the misleading ads, which were in heavy rotation last spring — including during pricey NHL playoff telecasts.

Why the Canada Jobs Grant will not work for Manitoba

The Canada Jobs Grant will not work for people who face barriers to employment, especially Aboriginal Manitobans. As Shauna Mackinnon wrote in The Canada Jobs Grant: Perpetuating Aboriginal Exclusion, the new federal program will take money away from successful programs that are helping unemployed people get the training they require to move into the labour force. In Manitoba, the changes remove $11-million federal dollars from programs that do important pre-employment education and training with Aboriginal students and lead to career-track jobs that pay a living wage. Even with the new offer from the federal government, which eliminates the requirement for provincial matching contributions to the Canada Jobs Grant, the provinces are still forced to decide to back-fill these programs or eliminate them. Federal off-loading to the provinces persists.

Canada Job Grant endangers programs for vulnerable workers, Ontario warns

Ontario is warning it will soon have to cut training programs aimed at vulnerable Canadians including youth and the disabled as negotiations drag on over Ottawa’s proposed Canada Job Grant.

The new training scheme was first proposed by Ottawa in last year’s federal budget and was supposed to begin April 1, but there is still no deal with the provinces.

Canada Job Grant ads cost $2.5M for non-existent program

The federal government blanketed the internet with ads and bought pricey TV spots during playoff hockey as part a $2.5-million publicity blitz to promote a skills training program that doesn't yet exist, CBC News has learned.

TV commercials for the Canada Job Grant often ran twice per game last May during the widely watched Hockey Night in Canada NHL playoff broadcasts on CBC. There were ads on radio, as well.

Misleading job grant ads fell on deaf ears anyway: survey

OTTAWA — A $2.5-million government ad campaign to promote the not-yet-existent Canada Job Grant appears to have resonated with few outside the office of the country’s advertising watchdog.

Eighty-five per cent of Canadians who participated in a public opinion survey this summer couldn’t recall ever seeing the advertisements that ran for seven weeks starting last May on television during the NHL playoffs and on popular internet sites like YouTube and MuchMusic. Of those who did see the ads, 95 per cent said they weren’t compelled to do anything after viewing them.

Jason Kenney gets 'frosty' reception to job grant plan

Canada's provinces and territories continue to seek an opt-out option from the controversial Canada Job Grant plan following a "frosty" meeting between their labour ministers and federal Employment Minister Jason Kenney in Toronto on Friday.

Kenney got a chilly reception from provincial and territorial labour ministers as he tried to sell them on the federal government's Canada Job Grant at a meeting in Toronto Friday, CBC News has learned.

Discussions that began early Friday morning were described as "frosty" and "tense" by a person privy to the meeting.

Canada Job Grant Doomed Unless Ottawa Makes Changes, Premiers Say

TORONTO - Unless the federal Conservatives make substantial changes to the Canada Job Grant, the jobs training fund is doomed to failure, provincial leaders said Wednesday.

Ottawa has to be open to changing the program because a "one-size-fits-all" approach to helping more people find jobs isn't going to work, said British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and New Brunswick Premier David Alward.

Canada Job Grant a 'Boondoggle', Say Critics

Job service providers say they are worried about the federal government's plan to fund a new Canada Job Grant with money previously targeted to some of the country's hardest to employ people.

The federal government is making the change on April 1, 2014 without consulting provincial or territorial governments, people in the jobs and skills training sector or the public, said Chris Atchison, chair of the Canadian Coalition of Community Based Employment Training.

Jobs Act falls short of grand promises

When lawmakers unveiled the carefully named Jobs Act a year ago, backers expected it to get caught up in the typical grind of Capitol Hill: vigorous debate followed by a long wait for a vote that might never happen.

Instead, the legislation sailed through — perhaps too fast. Even supporters say they expected more time to work out the kinks in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, which aimed to help small, private firms raise money and grow so they could hire more workers.

Senate blocks Obama's jobs bill

The Senate failed to advance President Obama's jobs package, as Democratic leaders are expected to begin carving the $447-billion package into individual proposals that may have a better chance at passage.

The Senate was still voting late Tuesday, but Democrats did not have enough votes to overcome a filibuster led by Republicans. Most Democrats supported the bill while all Republicans were voting to block it.

Senators rejected the legislation on various fronts. Republicans opposed spending more money to hire teachers or give workers tax breaks to spur the economy. Democrats largely rejected taxing the rich to pay for it.

A new surtax on millionaires was proposed to pay for the bill. The new 5.6% tax, which would take effect in 2013, would fully cover the cost of the jobs act.

Obama, meeting with members of his jobs council in Pittsburgh, acknowledged the White House would need to take a new approach.

"We're going to have to break it up," Obama said.

The Senate could begin taking up individual elements of the jobs package, possibly as soon as next week.

Origin
Source: L.A. Times 

Millionaire tax would cover cost of Obama jobs bill

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Democrats' proposed tax on millionaires would raise an estimated $453 billion, more than enough to pay for President Obama's jobs bill.

That's the latest from the Congressional Budget Office, which on Friday released its cost and revenue estimates for the American Jobs Act of 2011.

The bill calls for $447 billion in new and extended tax cuts along with additional spending on infrastructure, jobs training and housing help among other things.

On net, the legislation would reduce deficits by $6 billion over the next decade.

CBO to debt committee: Cutting now could hurt

The single largest measure in the package -- reducing revenues by $265 billion -- is an extended and expanded payroll tax cut.

Employees normally pay 6.2% on their first $106,800 of wages into Social Security, but they are now paying only 4.2%. That break is set to expire at the end of December, and Obama wants to cut the tax in half to 3.1%.

Another notable measure, costing roughly $44 billion, is an extension of emergency jobless benefits to help the long-term unemployed. Lawmakers first expanded benefits to cover 99 weeks in 2009, and have since reauthorized the expansion five times.

Obama Jobs Bill: President Challenges Republicans On $447 Billion Plan

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - President Barack Obama challenged Republican leaders on Tuesday to put his entire $447 billion jobs plan to a vote, rather than breaking it up, to show American voters "exactly where members of Congress stand."

Obama, a Democrat facing a tough re-election battle in November 2012, sent bills for trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to a seemingly receptive Congress on Monday but the mood in Washington has otherwise been fractious as his jobs package comes apart at the seams.

Republicans say the proposal -- a mix of stimulus spending and tax cuts for workers and small businesses plus an end to some tax breaks for corporations and the rich -- will never pass as a whole but that certain parts are worth considering.

On the Texas leg of his "pass this bill" tour, Obama chided Eric Cantor, Republican leader in the House of Representatives, for saying he would not allow a vote on the measure. The White House said the plan could save or create about 400,000 education jobs, including 39,500 in Texas.

Obama Debt Reduction Plan Calms Democrats' Concerns On And Off Hill

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's broad new debt reduction proposal has, at least momentarily, managed to placate a community of progressive activists, Democratic operatives and congressional offices who have grown increasingly despondent over the course of his presidency.

On Monday the White House outlined more than $3 trillion in deficit reduction measures that included $1.5 trillion in tax increases, $1 trillion in war savings and $580 billion or so in mandatory program savings. What stood out, however, was what wasn't in the plan at all: changes to the payment structure of Social Security or the eligibility age of Medicare that the president had voiced support for as recently as August.

Democratic sources familiar with the drafting of the proposal insist that the 80-page document, which included a $470 billion job creation program, is largely consistent with the philosophical blueprint the White House has pursued during the past year. But they also didn't beat back suggestions that Obama and his team are more eager than ever to draw contrasts with Republicans on issues such as tax policy or entitlement reform. Perhaps the best example is the president's pledge to veto any deficit reduction plan that cut Medicare benefits but didn't include a dime of tax increases -- a threat that came in response to House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) insistence that tax hikes be left completely off the table.

Will Top Obama Economist Fight for Jobs?

The Obama administration’s selection of Alan Krueger to lead the Council of Economic Advisers was greeted with applause from progressive economists, including Paul Krugman and Jared Bernstein. “Alan is a fine choice as chief economic adviser,” wrote Krugman, who has often clashed with the administration over economic policy. “It’s an inspired choice,” added Bernstein.

Krueger served as an adviser in the Treasury Department from 2009–10, where he designed the successful cash-for-clunkers program, and, as a Princeton University professor, is regarded as one of the country’s top labor economists. His nomination comes at a time when the Obama administration is belatedly realizing it needs to do much more to try to boost the lagging economy. The Wall Street Journal reports that, if confirmed, Krueger “is likely to provide a voice inside the administration for more-aggressive government action to bring down unemployment and, particularly, to address long-term joblessness.”

Obama Jobs Plan Meets Early Resistance From Republicans

Following a few dismal weeks on Wall Street and talk of a double-dip recession, President Obama will soon announce a new jobs plan that is expected to include an extension of payroll tax cuts, new revenue for transportation projects and an extension of emergency unemployment benefits for the 9.1 percent of Americans who still can't find a job. Obama's campaign advisor, David Axelrod, said on Sunday that there's nothing in the proposal "that reasonable people shouldn't be able to agree on" -- but many fired-up Republicans are already preparing to reject whatever the President puts on the table.

“This is the seventh or eighth or ninth time we’ve heard the president talk about producing a plan,” Republican strategist Karl Rove said on Fox News Sunday. “And each time that he’s gotten around to tossing an idea out on the table, it has included only more spending, more deficit, more debt and the American people are fed up with it.”