A WARNING TO YOU ALL. IGNORE IT AT YOUR PERIL.
EVERYBOBY, WAKE UP!
If you think the problems with
H.RD.C. reported in the media in late 1999 and early 2000 – just after The Hon.
Jane Stewart became Minister for Human Resources Development - are the only
ones needing attention, you've got another think coming.
THERE ARE OTHERS WHICH ARE
ARGUABLY FAR MORE IMPORTANT.
For example, the true numbers of
unemployed in Canada amount to something over 4 million - but only about 25% of
these are recognised as such by H.R.D.C. (the "officially
unemployed"). So the problem is about four times bigger than the figures
for “official” unemployed would suggest.
For reasons which will become
clear when you read media articles that I have cited on this web site, I am not
sure that even the Minister is aware of what is really going on. The problem is
essentially rooted in widespread disinformation appearing in these media
articles; this in turn seems to be rooted in incomplete statistical data (for
instance, no regularly-updated breakdown of that group classified as “Not in
the Labour Force” – and in fact this group includes most people who are
unemployed in real terms), combined with persistent mis-describing of the
people affected as “…(having) given up
looking for work…”, “….(having) dropped out of the labour force…”, or “….(being)
discouraged workers…”.
So we have to create something
like four times more jobs than than the figures for “official” unemployed would
suggest, in order to solve it.
We also have to stop lawyers and other officials putting
obstructions in the way of unemployed people who want to get back back to work
and become tax payers.
We need immigrants, to
counteract the effects of baby-boomers retiring, and we have to eliminate the
bureaucratic obstacles put in the way of immigrants getting work in their
professions. Only if we do this will they be able to contribute significantly
to the tax base.
If we don't fix this, we will be
in far worse trouble over meeting the needs of the health care system and other
things, in the years to come.
How are we going to do it? I and
Russell Mills, former publisher of "The Ottawa Citizen", have some
ideas :-