March 9, 1937 (18th Parliament, 2nd Session)

Mr. DOUGLAS:

Because there was nowhere for them to go. The average young man to-day is caught on the horns of a dilemma. He must either look for work elsewhere or stay at home, in which case he is not eligible for most of the government projects such as the home placement scheme. If he leaves home to try to get on any of these projects he at once makes it impossible for himself ever to come back to his home and get relief. He is penalized either way, because if he stays at home he cannot get work, and if he leaves home and wanders about the country looking for work he cannot come back home because the authorities are not willing to accept him as a responsibility.
Let us look at the matter of farm placements. In the first place it is of very little value to those who would like it, the young farmers, young men in small towns on the

prairies who would be glad to go on the farm, having had some experience. They cannot go because they have a home; scores of them have been refused on the ground that they have a place to live. The young men who are homeless come in the main from the cities; in the first place they are not suited to farm work, they are of no use to the farmer, and they do not like such work. Therefore, those who want it cannot get it and those who can get it do not want it and are not of much use to the people to whom they go.
I was interested the other day to receive a postcard from the Ottawa Young Men's Christian Association notifying me that Hon. Norman McL. Rogers would be the guest speaker, taking as his subject "The outlook of Youth." I am sorry I did not hear that address.