From the office of Bill Siksay, Member of Parliament for Burnaby-Douglas Dear Friends, I am writing to provide you with information about 2010 Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) programme. Canada Summer Jobs supports meaningful work experiences for students and organizations that provide important community services. The 2010 CSJ programme will again fund not-for-profit, public-sector, and small private-sector employers to create summer job opportunities for young people 15 to 30 years old who are full-time students returning to their studies in the next academic year. Small private-sector employers are defined as those who have 50 or fewer employees. Larger private-sector employers with more than 50 employees are not eligible for funding. Please note that institutions such as Simon Fraser University and the BC Institute for Technology are eligible to apply for projects through their various departments. Following several years of pressure from my New Democrat colleagues and I, funding for the 2010 CSJ program has been increased by $10 million resulting in a total budget of $107.5 million to be allocated across 308 federal constituencies. The budget for Burnaby-Douglas will increase slightly from the 2009 amount of $459,293 to $494,066 for 2010, based on 2001 census data. Despite this modest increase, locally, the programme is always oversubscribed and very competitive with more applica-tions than can be approved within the allocated budget. Please note that for Burnaby-Douglas, the local priorities identified for 2010 will likely remain the same as previous years. The focus will be on the not for profit sector, the community service sector, particularly day camps and jobs which service multiple participants, and post-secondary education institutions. After assessing all applications received, Service Canada officials will invite MPs to review the proposed lists of orga-nizations recommended for funding in their constituencies. At that time, MPs may make recommendations about projects that they believe meet the criteria or local priorities which they feel have been overlooked in this review and recommend changes to the list. Any cases of disagreement between the Service Canada official and the MP on the final list will be referred to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development. All MP input into local priorities and changes requested to funding lists will be made available to the public subject to privacy considerations. After the final lists have been approved, Service Canada officials hope to sign agreements with the successful applicants to get students can be hired and working beginning in May 2010. This is a very competitive process, and every year there are excellent applications that cannot be approved. Please bear this in mind when formulating your proposal and completing your application. It is very important to address the 2010 national program goals and the local priorities in your application. I hope this information is helpful to you and please do not hesitate to contact my office if you need any further information or assistance. Remember, the applications for Canada Summer Jobs 2010 will be available on February 1, 2010. The deadline for applications is February 26, 2010. Don’t delay - get your applications in as soon as possible to ensure that you are considered for funding this year. Sincerely yours, Bill Siksay, MP Burnaby-Douglas | 
