A helicopter works on the Dryden Creek Wildfire, just north of Squamish, B.C. in June, 2025.Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press
Jonah Bryson served in President Joe Biden’s administration as press secretary for the Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps). He currently advises organizations and leaders working in progressive politics, civil rights and science advocacy.
Being raised in Canada taught me two enduring lessons: To care for the environment, and to contribute meaningfully to public life.
That’s why in 2023, when an unexpected call from the White House came in, I stepped forward. I was appointed by president Joe Biden, and within months began work on the historic American Climate Corps program.
In his first budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney has proposed a similar climate corps for Canada – a bold, consequential, nation-building program with deep roots and a rich legacy dating back nearly 100 years. This is exactly the kind of generational investment that young people need.
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The late 1920s ushered in the Great Depression, an era of immense economic hardship around the world. In the United States, industrial production fell by 47 per cent while unemployment rose to an all-time high of 25 per cent in 1933.
But the economy wasn’t the only crisis. Environmental catastrophes swept across the U.S. Most notably, the droughts that created the Dust Bowl devastated farmlands.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt recognized that these coinciding challenges didn’t simply double the hardship, but together presented an off-ramp: by addressing these environmental crises, the economy could be stimulated once again.
In 1933, FDR’s New Deal program formed the Civilian Conservation Corps, which offered employment opportunities to young men coast-to-coast. Together, they collectively planted more than three billion trees, revitalizing soil health throughout America’s farmlands. With the construction of the Hoover Dam, they harnessed the power of the Colorado River. And they established wildlife refuges, suppressed forest fires, and conserved millions of acres of forests and waterways.
Now, nearly 100 years later, Mr. Carney is announcing a Youth Climate Corps at a time when people need it most.
Canada is confronting a melting Arctic, record-breaking wildfires and widespread droughts. Meanwhile, Canada faces an uncertain economic future. International alliances are rapidly changing, and economies are drastically slowing.
Young people, in particular, are bearing the brunt. Canada is facing its highest youth unemployment rate in nearly 25 years. While the roots of this crisis long predate the current government, it now has both the responsibility – and the opportunity – to address it. This is Mr. Carney’s FDR moment.
Why? Because much like then, today’s overlapping crises present a rare chance for the federal government to spur economic growth domestically through the creation of the Youth Climate Corps.
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In the U.S., Mr. Biden’s program – unlike the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps – recruited people of every background, gender and race. It offered a vast array of programs. Some focused on wildfire prevention and response, others on renewable energy installation, and conservation of national parks, waterways and tribal lands.
Within three weeks of launching the program, more than 42,000 young Americans from across the country signed up. Even more, conservative states like West Virginia benefited from the programs offered, much as liberal states did. Struggling coal-mining communities, for example, could receive work-force development training to support a transition to higher-paying, healthier and greener jobs, while returning an average of US$17 to the federal government for every US$1 invested.
By launching a youth climate corps, Canada can invest in its own domestic work force, all while building pathways for young Canadians. From Alberta to Ontario to Newfoundland, members could receive hands-on training for good-paying, unionized jobs. It’s an investment in Canadian talent. Backed by labour unions, educational institutions and private-energy enterprises, the climate corps could be a nation-building investment – cost-efficient and rich in economic potential.
Mr. Carney has vowed to spend less and invest more. Nothing could better define what a youth climate corps would accomplish, all while supporting farmers battling droughts, coastal communities confronting floods and towns threatened by wildfires.
For me, this news is deeply personal. Canada’s boreal forests, crystal lakes and snow-covered mountains left a mark on me as a child, and a sense of awe and dedication that has guided much of my life and career. From an early age, I understood that these natural wonders must be protected. I carried those progressive values from Canada all the way to Washington.
I know how much Mr. Carney’s program will safeguard the landscapes that showcase Canada in the eyes of the world. I can think of no more timely national initiative than this one.
A century ago, FDR put America back on track with the New Deal. Today, Mr. Carney is doing the same for Canada with this transformative program.