kitchener
please listen carefully. thank you very much trudy and to the social planning council for arranging this event tonight. it felt a little bit like speed dating going table to table and i, too, sadly did not get to all of the tables. but... this kind of open and sharing dialogue is really the sort of very positive, constructive exercise that helps us not only to express our concerns, but i think it helps us to find the answers. and that's what we're here to do. the issues that youth do face today: getting the right skills, and having good employment opportunities, and feeling safe in their communities. these are paramount to me, and to kathy wynne, and to the liberals. so, this is why the liberals have chosen to invest in young people. i know that we were talking about specific issues at our tables, and what i want to share with you are some of our ideas.
i want to begin with education. there is really nothing that is more important that a government can invest in than its young people in order to prepare them for the future. so, what we want to do is continue the 30% off tuition grant that we have for college and university students. this makes that experience a lot more accessible to young people. we want to increase the apprenticeship opportunities and training. there are currently 120,000 young people today who are getting this kind of on the job training and we want to see that continue. we also want to ensure that every grade 7 through 12 student is going to have access to their own online career planning tool, and that they continue this all the way through their schooling to help them prepare for the future. we have this idea of replacing the grade 10 careers curriculum, maybe a few of you young people have gone through that,
with something that's going to help you to explore careers in a more hands-on way. and i also heard discussion about how there are a lot of young people who do not have access to tech devices, that it's not fair that there are wealthier kids who are bringing in their own devices, and kids who are in need don't exactly have access to this. and i also heard at this table over here, a young man talking about how it's hard to get into paying for a football program when you're having to pay for fees for uniforms and so on. this is something that we need to talk to local schools about finding answers to this. the other issue that young people face, of course, is trying to find new jobs when they get out of school. i've got one minute remaining, i've got to go faster folks, ok. just last september we brought in a youth job strategy. this has been a remarkable program.
10,000 young people have already taken advantage of this in just 8 months, it's wonderful. odsp, ow, we're going to see increases to that. she says, now speed-reading. at the table on mental health i want you to know that we have a commitment to increasing permanent funding for children's treatment centres, and funding to mental health programs and addiction. i love the environment table. you want to reduce traffic, bring in bike lanes. we have all-day two-way go train service. we're the first jurisdiction in all of north america to get ourselves off of coal, and we're investing in solar and wind. and here comes trudy to give me the hoof, so i want to keep working with you. in the future let's keep talking, and let's make new ideas turn into action. my name's daiene vernile and i'm running for the liberals in kitchener centre.
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