I think you've raised a very good point in terms of where the responsibility lies. Certainly we understand that post-secondary education is a provincial jurisdiction. Education in general has been left up to the provinces, but historically the federal government has always played a role in post-secondary education, much like it has in health care. From our perspective, the federal government needs to be providing some leadership on post-secondary education, but obviously not encroaching on provincial jurisdiction in terms of very specific things related to the provision of education within the provinces.
But you do talk about the idea that the government has a broad responsibility for education. From our perspective, the federal government has two very important roles to play. The first is an increase in funding, the funding for programs that exist provincially through transfer payments. The second is through the provision of student financial assistance. We think those are two areas where the federal government can and should be playing a very large role. Those are two areas that I believe do not encroach on provincial jurisdiction. In fact, both of these areas are where provincial departments of education have said they need more funding from the federal government, and we'd like to see more assistance for students at the federal level. Although it is a provincial jurisdiction, I think the federal government has historically provided funding for post-secondary education.
If we compare it to health care and the idea that health care obviously is a provincial jurisdiction, the federal government plays a large role in the provision of health care, ensuring that Canadians have access to a quality system. The same thing needs to happen in post-secondary education.
I agree with Scott that at this point there is a patchwork of assistance. There is no focus or vision for post-secondary education coming out at the federal level and that's what needs to happen.
I only spoke to this bill because this bill is what is being debated and discussed here, but just as important as this bill on student financial assistance is this idea that there needs to be a reinvestment in post-secondary education and in fact a vision for post-secondary education in this country.