Youth Climate Corps contingent at the Many vs the Money Demonstration, Toronto, ON, September 14 2026
Photo Credit: Sarah Hassanein
Toronto, ON – Mark Carney is in Toronto this week hosting his investor summit. A gathering of the global corporate elite to decide what gets sold off and what gets prioritized in the Canadian economy.
Meanwhile, young people are still asking: Where is the Youth Climate Corps pilot?
It's been almost a year since the government promised $40 million to train young people as firefighters, emergency responders, and climate workers. We've heard nothing. No announcement. No timeline. No details. Just silence.
And this week, Carney is making the reason crystal clear.
He's not interested in investing in us or our future. He's only interested in selling our publicly owned infrastructure to the global elite.
At his summit, the projects on the table are fossil fuel expansion, military weapons, and AI systems that are explicitly designed to replace workers like us. This is what "Team Canada Strong" actually means to him— a strong Canada for the wealthy few, not for young people trying to build a future.
"Like a lot of Canadians, young people are worried about our future on this planet. We don't trust that the billionaires at this investment summit will solve the crises that they helped create. Young people are going to have to be a part of the solution. We would love to do this work together, but we are not going to wait around. We were promised a Youth Climate Corps. Where is it? Let's get to work!” said Miles Little, a Youth Climate Corps organizer.
The contradiction is impossible to ignore. This summer, when wildfires tore through Canada, skilled firefighters had to come from Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand. We had to rely on foreign workers to fight our own fires. And the entire time, $40 million was sitting there—money that could have been used to train Canadian youth to do this work, to build resilience, to have jobs that mean something.
Instead, Carney chose to let that money sit while he charms investors interested in the industries that are destroying our climate and threatening our jobs.
This isn't accidental. It's a choice. And young people are watching.
We did what we were supposed to do. We got an education. We organized tirelessly to get the government to listen to us. We demanded the government keep its promise for a Youth Climate Corps. And they said yes—they included it in the budget. But words are cheap when your government is busy selling our future to the highest bidder.
The Youth Climate Corps needs to be simple:
Paid, unionized jobs for young people aged 18-35
Real work that tackles the climate crisis, builds renewable energy, retrofits homes, responds to emergencies
Living wages that let young people afford rent, build a life, contribute to their communities
20,000 jobs at full scale, not a tiny pilot that disappears
This is nation-building. This is what a government that actually cares about young people would do.
Carney can invest $1 billion on a Youth Climate Corps, or he can keep selling our future to fossil fuel executives and AI CEOs. He's made his choice. Now it's our turn to make sure he can't pretend he didn't.
We're coming to hold him accountable. And we're not stopping until that money goes to young people and good, green jobs.
If you're ready to fight for a future worth building, find us. We're just getting started.