Interview with Matthew Rowlinson, NDP candidate for London West

Hurley: As you likely know, Canada’s youth unemployment rate is almost double the rate of the general population, and there are 60,000 fewer jobs for youth today than there were when the Conservatives first came to power.    

As well, one-quarter of university graduates between the ages of 25 and 29 are underemployed.

What types of policies will the NDP pursue to address high youth unemployment and underemployment in Canada?

Rowlinson: I absolutely see this at the door – I've been knocking on doors in London West since March, and a lot of the people who come to the door are young people who are either unemployed or underemployed. They're home at two o'clock in the afternoon. And it's great for me to talk to them, but they're not really happy to be there. And so this is a huge problem today.

We have a very high youth unemployment rate in London and one of the consequences is that young people are leaving the city. As a faculty member at Western, I have great students – most of them graduate from Western and move to the Greater Toronto Area or move out West. They don't stay here, and I hope that's not the future of London. It's a pressing national problem, but it's also a big problem for me, for us, right here in my riding of London West.

Fundamentally, we need to build a sustainable economy that's going to generate decent jobs here in London, and that's the long-term solution. It's not simply a youth problem. People want jobs, and they want real jobs.

And I'm optimistic about this. There are really exciting companies that are starting up here in London – a whole range of fields like digital technology, gaming, and composite construction. These are the high-tech fields of the future, and they have not been getting support from governments, going back to the (federal) Liberals.

Government attempts to build jobs in this country, for as long as I've been following politics, have all been about trying to attract multinational corporations to invest here. And that's the economy that existed in London for a long time – the GM, Ford, Kellogg's, and 3M economy, and the electro-diesel economy, with the Caterpillar plant that closed down a few years ago.

These companies leave when global economic conditions change, or when they find an anti-union jurisdiction to move to, they'll leave. That's exactly what happened with Caterpillar. They got a five million dollarcheque from Stephen Harper during the last election campaign, and two years later, they tried to impose a union-busting contract on their workers. The workers courageously said no, then there was a lockout, and a few months later they closed the plant and moved the jobs to Indiana, where they're having big trouble building locomotives because those were really great workers at the (London) Caterpillar plant.

Hurley: Along those lines, I wanted to ask you about the NDP's recently announced plan to create 40,000 youth jobs, paid internships, and co-op placements over four years. Is that policy resonating with voters in your riding, or not?

Rowlinson: I really think it is, yes. As I say, there's a real problem with youth unemployment and underemployment here. But there's also a problem that everybody in London sees, with the lack of opportunity for youth here, and that's really affecting the character of the city as a vibrant, exciting place to live.

And London's a great city. We have terrific, creative infrastructure, a beautiful downtown with lots of unspoiled Victorian architecture, but there aren't enough jobs to keep young people here, and it's a very tough place to live if you don't have a car. So we need transit infrastructure, and we need to build jobs in exciting and emerging fields that are going to keep people here.

So the NDP is offering paid internships and training for youth – that's the way to go.

Hurley: Over 70,000 students have already voted at campus polling stations across the country, thanks to an Elections Canada pilot project aimed at making it easier for students to vote.

Do you think the youth vote will be a significant factor in the outcome of this election?