In a passionate address during the House of Representatives’ budget debate on October 17, Laventille East/Morvant MP Christian Birchwood voiced his concerns over the 2026 national budget’s failure to include apprenticeship initiatives aimed at engaging youth from at-risk communities in state-funded projects. Birchwood, an engineer by profession, highlighted the Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo’s acknowledgment of a significant contraction in the labor market, with nearly 70,000 jobs lost over the past decade and labor force participation dropping from 62% to below 55%. Birchwood argued that these statistics should serve as a benchmark to evaluate the government’s employment initiatives and hold them accountable. He questioned the absence of targeted apprenticeship programs and community job centers in the new budget, which he believes are crucial for connecting young people from high-need districts to state-funded projects. Birchwood urged Tancoo to ensure that residents from Laventille and surrounding communities are employed in infrastructure and development programs across the northwest corridor. He emphasized the importance of linking public spending to local participation to prevent the Employment Fund from becoming a mere line item rather than a tool for empowerment. Birchwood also called for measures to guard against bureaucracy and ensure fair access for single-parent households, micro-entrepreneurs, and youth start-ups as the country transitions from the Cepep and URP models to the Employment Fund. He concluded by stressing that infrastructure projects should bring dignity to the people on the ground, not remain abstract statistics.
Birchwood: No apprenticeship programmes targeting at-risk youth in budget
