moved for leave to introduce Bill C-398, An Act to establish criteria and conditions in respect of funding for post-secondary education programs in order to ensure the quality, accessibility, public administration and accountability of those programs.
Mr. Speaker, this act would guarantee stable core funding for post-secondary education and enshrine the principles of accessibility, affordability and quality for Canadian students in a public not for profit education system.
The PSE act would also provide for the Canada social transfer to be split, creating a dedicated post-secondary education transfer. This action would ensure that funding is more transparent and that federal and provincial governments are more accountable.
The Canadian Council on Learning's December report stated that Canada lacked a national strategy to coordinate quality post-secondary education and that we will be left behind if we do not develop a national focus on post-secondary education. This legislation is the first step to achieve this.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)