-March21;1985

Challenge—’85applications start rolling in

MONTREAL (CUP) — They hired 30 people in a week. They designed a cheap little one-page pamphlet, photo- copied huge stacks of it, and distributed it to 95,000 business in the Montreal area, Laval and the South Shore. Then they patched together a quick string of phone extensions, hired three people to ‘channel calls through the make-shift switchboard and got to work.

“They” are government of Canada employees, and this is the new Tory way of doing things.

These federal employees have three weeks to find companies and institutions to hire 12,000 students in the Montreal area, under the Canadian government’s Challenge/Defi ’85 job creation program.

A non-profit, corporation will receive funds to cover

100 per cent of a student’s,

salary, but “priority will be given to career-related jobs (their emphasis) for stu- dents.” - On P.E.I., the Employment Development Branch is having aneasier time, because of the smaller-sized region involved. “We’ve contacted 85 muni- cipalities, all employer organ-

izations and non-profit groups on the Island,” says spokes- man Jake Baird.

About 120 forms have come back already, and staff expect a rush of mail this week.

The federal program for student jobs was announced much later this year than last because the Tories “spent a lot of time studying the pro- blem before they announced their program,” said Richard Desrosiers, one of the super- visors of the Montreal Chal- lenge ’85 operation. The forms which every employer has to fill out only arrived last week. Last year the

employers had more than twice the time to submit applications.

But Desrosiers says there will be no problem because the bureaucrats will be work— ing “night, . week-ends,” whatever it takes to make sure all the applications are in by Friday, March 22.

They will have to. Des- rosiers says the analysis time for each summer job applica- tion will be much shorter than last year. But pro- motional material promises priority for career-related jobs, and also guarantees the government willlnot fund a job which replaces a worker

already laid off.

When first asked about streamlining and speeding up the analysis, Desrosiers said there will be “no consultation with local manpower.” Later, when asked about verifying if students will take jobs from full-time laid off employees, he said: “We will go through the local man- power office to check this does not happen.”

Desrosiers said Challenge ’85} has “sent representatives to each of the universities, working with the manpower services and student unions to make sure the program is asuccess.” '

But Francois Desrosiers (no relation), Concordia University students’ associa- tion vice-president external, who would have met with the representatives, said no one came to Concordia.

“The government should have come around and ex- plained the program,” Des- rosiers said. But they didn’t. “All I know is what I get from reading newspapers.”

Martine Gagnon, McGill University student vice- president, said the federal representatives have not visited McGill either.

At Dawson College, a few

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Challenge ’85 posters, look- ing like promotion for a bake sale, have been posted on bulletin boards.

The head of Dawson’s employment centre, who refused to give his name said “it’s a bit late admittedly — I hope they extend the dead- line.”

But he said he thinks many students will benefit from the program. Two pro-

fessors at Dawson, one in engineering and one in finance, have special deals and will be wrangling federal subsidies so students in their classes can get Challenge ’85 jobs.

' Students in other disci- plines are less lucky. In most cases Challenge ’85 officers are asking them to take the "forms around to employers themselves, to get companies

to sign up for the program.

On March 12, 300 applica- tions had come in. The office expects 5,000 by March 22. But Desrosiers, the super~ visor, looks on the bright side.

“The fact that we’ve got a program to work with is much more advantageous than saying ‘no, there’s nothing for you this sum- mer.”

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