Issue

Youth & Future Generations

Federal youth-policy levers include the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act (federal student loans, with permanent zero-interest in 2023), the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy ($1.1 billion over five years per the 2023 budget), the Canada Summer Jobs program, and the federal Youth Council (advisory body to the Prime Minister). Voting age has been 18 since 1970; Bills C-210 and C-227 in 44-1 would have lowered it to 16. Active 2024-2025 files: federal involvement in the Quebec Sept-Iles tragedy (2024 federal-provincial response to youth-justice gaps), the Statistics Canada-documented rise in household food insecurity since 2021 (children disproportionately affected), the national school food program framework (Bill C-322 of 44-1, royal assent 2024), the Online Harms Act (C-63 of 44-1, re-tabled as 45-1 C-216 focused on minors), and federal climate-litigation by youth plaintiffs (the 2020 La Rose v. Canada and 2022 ENvironnement Jeunesse v. Canada cases).

Where parties stand

Compare side-by-side

Bloc QuébécoisBLOC
The Bloc Québécois has long pushed for federal recognition of Quebec's higher youth-policy engagement model, including the Quebec Secretariat to Youth (Secretariat a la jeunesse) and the Quebec Youth Council (Conseil quebecois de la jeunesse) which operate independently of any federal counterpart. Supports federal funding flowing as unconditional transfer to Quebec for youth-employment, post-secondary, and skills-development programs, opposes federal direct-delivery of youth programs in Quebec (e.g., the federal Youth Employment Strategy operating in parallel to Quebec's program), and supports voting age at 18 (opposes Bills C-227 of 44-1 and C-210 of 45-1).
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Conservative Party of CanadaCONSERVATIVE
The federal Conservative Party under Pierre Poilievre frames the housing affordability crisis as the central youth-political issue, calling for federal pressure on municipalities to upzone (his proposed Building Homes Not Bureaucracy Act would have penalized cities not meeting building targets with reduced infrastructure funding), zero capital-gains-tax on RRSP withdrawals for first-home purchases, immediate elimination of the Underused Housing Tax for Canadian citizens, increases to the First Home Savings Account contribution limits ($8,000 annual, $40,000 lifetime), and federal student-loan interest-rate matching to Government of Canada bond rates (currently set at zero by the Liberals).
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Green Party of CanadaGREEN
The federal Green Party platform centres a generational-equity frame: free post-secondary education (federal-tuition reimbursement and student-loan-debt cancellation up to $35,000), lowering the federal voting age to 16 (Bill C-227 of 44-1 and C-210 of 45-1, both Green-supported), Guaranteed Livable Income at $20,000 per adult, expansion of the Canada Disability Benefit beyond $200 per month, climate-policy reform tied to youth-impact analysis under a proposed Future Generations Commissioner office (modelled on Wales's Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015), and an end to fossil-fuel subsidies (estimated $14 billion annually per IISD 2024 tracking).
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Liberal Party of CanadaLIBERAL
The federal Liberal Party under Mark Carney has set Canada Student Loan interest permanently to zero (Bill C-47, S.C. 2023, c. 26, sections 196 to 199, effective April 1, 2023), launched the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care framework targeting $10-a-day care by 2026 in all provinces (federal-provincial bilaterals signed 2021-2022 worth $30 billion over five years), expanded the First Home Savings Account ($8,000 annual, $40,000 lifetime, tax-free contributions and withdrawals for first-home purchases), increased the Canada Workers Benefit refundable tax credit, and committed to permanent federal funding for the Canada Disability Benefit beyond the initial $200-per-month delivery.
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New Democratic PartyNDP
The federal NDP under Jagmeet Singh centres housing affordability as the youth-political issue, calling for $10-billion National Housing Accelerator expansion targeting youth-priced rental, federal student-loan debt cancellation up to $20,000 per borrower, expanded EI to cover young workers in unconventional employment (the gig economy), lowering the federal voting age to 16 (NDP-supported Bills C-227 of 44-1 and C-210 of 45-1), expanded Canadian Dental Care Plan coverage to youth aged 18 to 29 beyond the current 18-and-under threshold, and a federal Climate Anxiety Mental Health Strategy as part of the proposed Mental Health Transfer.
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Youth & Future Generations

Where parties stand

Bills affecting this issue

An Act to restrict young persons’ online access to pornographic material

An Act respecting a national framework on sports betting advertising

An Act to amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act

An Act respecting a national strategy for children and youth in Canada

An Act to amend the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act and the Income Tax Act

An Act to enact the Protection of Minors in the Digital Age Act and to amend two Acts

An Act respecting a national framework on advertising for sports betting

An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act

An Act respecting early learning and child care in Canada

An Act to enact the Online Harms Act, to amend the Criminal Code, the Canadian Human Rights Act and An Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts

An Act to restrict young persons’ online access to sexually explicit material

An Act to develop a national framework to establish a school food program

An Act to develop a national school food program for children