Ontario Premier Doug Ford faced widespread criticism Tuesday after telling unemployed young people they aren’t “looking hard enough” for work, just days after government data showed the province lost more jobs than any other in August.
Speaking at a Toronto Region Board of Trade breakfast, Ford said he gets frustrated when young, healthy people complain they can’t find employment.
“I assure you, if you look hard enough, it may be in fast food or something else, but you’ll find a job,” Ford said.
The remarks came as Statistics Canada reported Ontario shed 26,000 jobs in August, the largest provincial loss in a month when Canada’s economy contracted by 66,000 positions overall. The national unemployment rate climbed to 7.1%, the highest level since 2016 outside of pandemic years.
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Youth unemployment in Ontario stands at 16.5%, more than double the provincial average of 7.7%. Manufacturing centers have been particularly hard hit, with Windsor reporting an 11.1% unemployment rate and Oshawa at 9%.
Opposition leaders quickly condemned 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 blame job seekers.
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie called the remarks “shockingly insensitive,” saying Ford has had “seven years to address this issue.”
The job losses have been largely attributed to ongoing trade tensions between Canada and the United States, with manufacturing and transportation sectors bearing the brunt of tariff impacts. Data shows only 15.2% of Canadians who were unemployed in July found work the following month, down from 23.3% in comparable periods from 2017-2019.
Ford used the same speech to highlight Ontario’s shortage of 230,000 skilled workers in trades and other sectors, arguing the province needs to “match the people up with the jobs.”
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