Heather McPherson has launched her careers platform; you can read it here.

So there are three major components:

• $6K grant funding for non-university students
• Guaranteed job placements (up to 18 months) for all graduates
• Mentorship program

Overall the thinking behind the proposal is good, in the sense that the major problem facing young people is the opportunity to develop skills and connections that integrate them into a working community they can rely on for a future career.

There will be issues in implementation. For example, the grants for non-university students enable them to access alternative learning opportunities, but education is full of fly-by-night operations that claim to provide training but just collect money. So some sort of recognition will be required, but this really should be a provincial responsibility. The same issue arises in mentorship: mentors receive a stipend, but not everybody should be a mentor, and some will try to abuse this opportunity.

Similarly, guaranteeing a person a job might in some cases be tantamount to guaranteeing them an 18-month vacation. While most people would take advantage of the opportunity in the spirit it is offered, some won’t, and without a means to address this, the program will be undermined. Jobs – even guaranteed jobs – have to come with performance commitments.

My own feeling is that the connections between students and a professional community need to begin at a much earlier age, need to be ongoing and not one-off, and need to be based on an incremental process of give and take, not single tombstone initiatives like grants, jobs and mentors.