Canada’s unemployment rate rose to 7.1% in August, according to the latest Labour Force Survey, the highest figure since 2016 outside of the pandemic years. The country lost almost 66,000 jobs during the month, largely in part-time employment. Professional, scientific and technical services, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing all recorded declines, while construction was one of the few sectors to add positions, gaining around 17,000 jobs.Regional variation was significant. Alberta posted an unemployment rate of 8.4%, its highest since 2017, while Ontario’s rate stood at 7.7%. .Speaking in Ottawa on Friday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre referenced these figures directly, saying 100,000 Canadians had lost work over the summer months. “Before I get started, let me just share my thoughts and prayers with the 66,000 Canadians who lost their jobs last month,” Poilievre said. “They’re added to the 40,000 who lost their jobs the month before that 100,000 Canadians lost their jobs this summer alone.”He described the toll on families: “They might have to move out of their home and find a smaller place. And this is a terrible time for them, especially our youth… their housing costs have doubled, food prices are unaffordable, their streets are in danger, and now they wake up and find out they don’t even have a job.”.Poilievre accused Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government of prioritizing corporate interests over Canadian workers. “While we lost 105,000 jobs over the summer, there’s 106,000 temporary foreign workers filling those jobs,” he said. “Mark Carney is on track to let in a record number of temporary foreign workers this year because he says the corporate lobbyists tell him they want to keep wages low and their profits high.”He also criticized the government’s pace on housing and infrastructure, pointing to delays in approving major projects. “We’re five months in, he has not approved a single national project,” Poilievre argued. “In fact, he doesn’t even have a list of projects he’s considering approving.” Referring to a recently reported set of potential projects, he added: “This is to be clear, not a list of projects Mark Carney supports. It’s a dream list that does not exist anywhere in reality.”Poilievre outlined his party’s priorities for the fall parliamentary session, including tax cuts, tougher sentencing, reduced immigration, and faster energy development. “My strategy is to focus on putting paychecks in Canadians’ pockets, putting criminals in jail, slamming the brakes on liberal immigration, getting shovels in the ground and getting our country back on its feet,” he said..He also pledged tougher action on drug trafficking after some First Nations leaders declared a state of emergency over the toxic drug crisis. “There should be life sentences for anyone caught marketing or producing more than 40 milligrams,” Poilievre said. “These are mass murderers. They should be locked up and we should throw away the key.”The speech came at the end of a difficult summer for the Canadian economy. Alongside high unemployment, Statistics Canada reported record levels of household debt and some of the slowest economic growth in the G7. Market analysts said the weak labour market is fueling expectations that the Bank of Canada could cut interest rates in the coming weeks.
