McGuinty Government Helps Students Find Summer Jobs In Kingston
Programs Strengthen The Skills And Experience Of Ontario’s Youth

KINGSTON – The government will help young people in Kingston find jobs or start their own business this summer through Ontario Summer Jobs, MPP John Gerretsen announced today on behalf of Minister of Training Colleges and Universities, Chris Bentley.

“Giving young people valuable insight into the working world helps them more informed decisions about their education and career choices,” said Gerretsen. “With this investment in the future of our youth, we are strengthening our city, our local economy and our workforce.”

This year, Ontario Summer Jobs will help more than 70,000 Ontario young people ages 15 to 24, or up to 29 for persons with disabilities, find work. Ontario Summer Jobs programs run between April and September and include:

• A $2 per hour hiring incentive for businesses and community organizations to hire students for up to 16 weeks
• Free job-search and self-marketing support to help students find summer jobs
• The Summer Company program, which provides students with up to $3,000 to help them start up and run their own summer business
• Jobs in provincial government ministries and agencies.

The Ontario government has helped create more than 210,000 summer jobs for youth over the past three years. Last year in Kingston the government provided St. Lawrence College and KEYS (Kingston Employment and Youth Services) with $488,623 to support 583 job placements and deliver job search workshops to 121 students.

Ontario Summer Jobs is a part of Employment Ontario, which offers close to $1 billion in training and employment services to more than 900,000 people through 1200 service providers in all regions of the province.

Since 2003, investments in infrastructure, postsecondary education, research and innovation and key economic sectors have helped strengthen Ontario's economic foundations and continue to build opportunity. Specific Ontario government initiatives to create opportunities for Ontarians include:

• Investing $6.2 billion more in postsecondary education and training by 2009-10 – the most significant multi-year investment in Ontario's higher education system in 40 years
• Increasing the minimum wage to $7.75 per hour – the third increase to minimum wage in three years
• Increasing the number of new apprenticeship registrations to 26,000 annually by 2007-08.

Employers and students can find information about Ontario Summer Jobs programs and services by calling Employment Ontario at 1-800-387-5656 or online at www.ontario.ca/employmentontario.

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For more information contact:
John Gerretsen, MPP
(613) 547-2385