‘Look harder’: Doug Ford’s answer to young Canadians who can’t find jobs

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is under fire after dismissing concerns from young people struggling to find employment, telling them they aren’t “looking hard enough.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is under fire after dismissing concerns from young people struggling to find employment, telling them they aren’t “looking hard enough,” even as Statistics Canada reports a surge in joblessness across the province.

Speaking Tuesday at a Toronto Region Board of Trade breakfast, Ford said he gets frustrated when young, healthy people say they can’t find jobs.

“I assure you, if you look hard enough, it may be in fast food or something else, but you’ll find a job,” he said.

His remarks came days after Statistics Canada reported Ontario lost 26,000 jobs in August, the most of any province.

Ontario’s unemployment rate dipped to 7.7 per cent in August from 7.9 per cent in July, not due to job growth, but because more Ontarians stopped looking for work.

Youth unemployment in Ontario rose to 16.5 per cent in August from 16 per cent in July, significantly higher than the national youth rate of 14.5 per cent. In July 2022, the province’s youth jobless rate was 10.1 per cent.

Compared to summer 2024, nearly 100,000 more Ontarians are unemployed, with close to 206,000 youth aged 15 to 24 jobless last month.

The GTA, which experienced rapid population growth, now faces a nine per cent unemployment rate. Opposition leaders have criticized Ford’s comments as out of touch.

“Doug Ford has no idea what real people, regular people, are dealing with right now,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said at Queen’s Park, urging the premier to “take some responsibility” rather than deflect blame.

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie called Ford’s remarks “shockingly insensitive.”

“He has no one to blame but the guy in the mirror because he’s had seven years to address this issue and to blame young people, is shockingly insensitive,” she said.

The comments also contrast with Ford’s own words last year. At a July 2024 press conference in Kitchener-Waterloo, he boasted of Ontario’s rapid growth: “Last year, we brought in over 800,000 people. So we’re bringing in more people than Texas and Florida combined. We’re over 16 million people, we’ll surpass New York State in probably another 5-6 years.”

Critics now argue that while Ford touted mass immigration, Ontario’s labour market has not kept pace. The province’s 7.9 per cent unemployment rate in July ranked third-highest in Canada, behind only Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island.

For comparison, Ontario’s jobless rate in July 2022 was 5.1 per cent.

Ford used his speech to again highlight shortages of skilled workers, telling the business crowd that Ontario remains short 230,000 positions in trades and other sectors.

“We need to match the people up with the jobs. It may not always be in the area that they want or the sector they want, but we have to start picking up productivity,” he said.