In praise of what the fiscal update means for students
Q&A with Belinda Stronach
Nadya Bell, CUP Ottawa Bureau Chief
Photo courtesy of CUP.
OTTAWA (CUP) — The federal government announced a long-term spending plan on Nov. 14 that included — after the tax cuts — a whole buffet of different spending initiatives for students.
The deal would mean $550 million for Canada Student Access Grants, $2.1 billion for the student financial assistance system, and $210 million for Canada Graduate Scholarships — just part of a spending plan that rings in at close to $8 billion.
Belinda Stronach, a Liberal cabinet minister in Paul Martin’s government, looks after federal money for students and universities as the federal minister for Human Resources and Skills Development.
Stronach sat down for a quick chat with the Canadian University Press Bureau Chief Ottawa Bureau Chief on a stone bench in a dark corner of parliament hill after the spending plan was announced. Here’s what she said.
What are you hoping to achieve with the increased funding for students?
It’s really about making sure that Canada remains competitive and more productive in the face of this changing global economy that we’re in, and the way that we’re going to do that is by investing in people and making sure that we build human capital.
That is going to be critical to our future prosperity and quality of life, so we’ve made a substantial investment, the biggest investment in over a decade — which I’m just thrilled about — in students.
So what do we hope to be able to achieve? We hope to be able to achieve that more people can access a post-secondary education that previously couldn’t, for a number of reasons, but obviously affordability is a big part of that. So the $550 million investment to extend the Canada Student Access Grant combined with the $2.1 billion in improved loan assistance, I think will make it easier for students to be able to access post-secondary education.
We’re also looking at being able to assist part time learners and students with children, so that it’s much easier for people to access a post-secondary education.
These are the programs for the next few years assuming that the spending plan goes ahead?
I would like to see that it does go ahead; if we stick with the PM’s original plan there is a good chance that it will go ahead. Because to me this is a critical investment in our future prosperity — that we enable people to obtain a good education to build a better quality of life for themselves.
Why is the emphasis on federal aid to students, rather than money channeled through provinces and universities?
Everything that we’re proposing, we’re very mindful of the provincial and federal jurisdictions. All of the investments that we’re making are in areas where we traditionally have played a role, so access, . . . research and innovation . . . that’s the investments that we’re focusing on.
I would also like to highlight the $1 billion that we’re putting into an innovation fund which would go to the provinces on a per capita basis, which they could then allocate to the various educational institutions as they see fit. I’ve travelled the country quite a bit, and many of our educational institutions are in bad need of repair. It’s also important to point out that we didn’t leave out colleges.
After investing in government-sponsored research, how do you see public and private funding playing a role in universities?
I think there has got to be, in some cases, a much more strategic relationship between the public and private sector. I think that will greatly benefit students because we bring the action much closer to reality, so I think that is a positive step forward. Not in all cases, but where it makes sense to do so. Because that way we make sure that what we’re teaching at the same time is highly relevant and is on the cutting edge, because we can’t afford to waste time, the world isn’t standing still. I think students know that.
How does this spending plan compare to the tuition relief package coming from the $1.5 billion that the NDP put in the last budget?
When [the NDP] proposed $1.5 billion over two years – You know what? That was a drop in the bucket compared to this. This is $8 billion over the next five to six years. We’re addressing those issues that were in C-48, but to me this is much more comprehensive, much greater.
There are two critical pieces, there is the post-secondary education side and there is the whole workplace skills development initiative, and those two combined are close to $8 billion. When you add in some of the other components, the demographic challenges, and the research and innovation, we’re looking at close to $11 to $12 billion investment in human capital, innovation and research.
What is the political advantage of putting out a budget focusing on students right before a potential election?
Political advantage? You know what, I think that it’s the right thing to do. Forget about the political advantages, it’s just the right thing to do. I got into politics for reasons of public service; I’ve been talking about a need to have a strategy for us to compete in the global economy, I’ve been talking about education for the last couple of years, so I’m just thrilled to be able to play a role in supporting that and seeing that it comes to a reality . . . and students are pretty smart, they’ll figure out if it’s the right thing to do or not.
