Ken Boshcoff

[Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, November 16th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to the benefits of Bill C-284.

My mother was a janitoress and I was the first one in our family ever to go to university. I could not have done it without a student loan. Perhaps that is why I have spent so much time listening to student leaders about their concerns.

When I see so many earnest young Canadians working to convince the government that their concerns are valid, I am frustrated by the government's refusal to respond to such a legitimate and well-documented case.

In Thunder Bay, Confederation College student union president, Jon Hendel, has forwarded the document “Sleepwalking Towards the Precipice”, which was researched in partnership with many provincial and national student alliances.

One of their main concerns is the looming $350 million cut to financial aid. The mandate of the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, which distributes $350 million in student aid annually, is set to expire in 2009. The foundation was established in 1998 by the Liberal Government of Canada with the mandate of improving access to post-secondary education.

Eliminating $350 million from the Canadian financial aid system will have a disastrous impact on the accessibility and affordability of a post-secondary education. Currently, the foundation provides assistance to over 100,000 students annually, making it responsible for about 30% of all non-repayable grants awarded in Canada.

To avert disaster requires immediate action. The federal government must continue to provide a commitment equal to or greater than the foundation's original endowment in non-repayable student financial assistance. This would require the government to provide, at a minimum, a $2.5 billion base endowment to the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. The endowment must also be indexed annually, starting from 1999, to account for inflation and enrolment growth.

Andrew Kane, the manager of financial aid at Confederation College, tells me that over $5 million has been directed to the college since the program began. This is quite a significant amount. He is deeply saddened that this program will be cancelled since it is a direct investment in the students who need it most.

I have received a diploma myself from Confederation College, as well as a master's from York and a B.A. from Lakehead University, and I am proud to have those as my alma maters.

Thunder Bay's Lakehead University student union president, Richard Longtin, confirmed in a recent meeting some amazing statistics. Since 1999, 5,832 Lakehead University students have received $17,528,482 in scholarships and bursaries. In this past academic year alone, 926 students received $2.745 million. Those obviously are a significant set of numbers.

Lakehead University's financial aid administrator wrote to me and said:

It is easy to see that the impact of this program on students at Lakehead University is immense. I have no doubt that these programs have provided the opportunity for many students to attend Lakehead University who otherwise might not have been able to afford a post-secondary education.

The College Student Alliance adds strength to the debate for inclusion. It recommends investment in more non-repayable grants targeted at unrepresented students from low income families, aboriginal communities, first generation and persons with disabilities.

The Canadian Federation of Students met with me regarding the need for a national system of needs based grants. Just yesterday, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, CASA, articulated its issues in its education policy brief entitled, Strengthening Canada's Future: Real Solutions From Canada's Students.

It is very inspiring to meet with such intelligent and motivated young leaders, especially those who so thoughtfully propose reasonable and workable solutions. Of note, they advise that the government must ensure that post-secondary funding is truly dedicated funding. The government must work with the provinces to develop objectives for post-secondary education funding as well as mechanisms to ensure funding is directed toward meeting those goals.

Additional federal transfer funding for post-secondary education must not displace existing funding. Federal transfer funding for post-secondary education should be increased to a minimum level of $4 billion in annual cash transfers and increased annually according to inflation and demographic growth.

The Vancouver based Coalition for Student Loan Fairness has prepared a comprehensive report, entitled “An Eight-Point Plan for Reform”. This reform addresses all levels of concern that constituents have discussed with me.

Point one recommends that the federal government significantly reduce or eliminate the interest rate on student loans. With interest rates of 8.75% to 11.25%, borrowers end up paying interest of over 35% over the lifetime of the loan.

Point two calls for improved access to grants, interest relief and debt reduction. This would include promotion to ensure that all borrowers who need this are aware of it.

Point three calls for the creation of a student loan ombudsman's office which would have the power to prescribe resolutions to service providers, including banks and credit reporting offices.

Points four, five and six speak to creating efficiencies with the recording and payment of student loans. Graduates would be able to expect one integrated loan and one payment with real-time access to statements.

Often, bad things happen to good people through no fault of their own. Points seven and eight address some of those remedies, including the provision of hardship relief.

How serious is student debt? Currently, Canadian students owe the federal government about $800 million in defaulted student loans. The coalition says that nearly $98 million of that amount is interest.

Under an access to information request, the group has also determined that Ottawa is spending more money collecting defaulted loans than in ensuring its interest relief and debt reduction programs are accessible to students. Clearly, changes are needed.

The goal of Bill C-284 is to break down barriers to higher education.

The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation study on Canada's tuition and education tax credits is clear proof that providing an $80 tax break on books is bad policy. The incompetence that took us billions of dollars into debt in the early 1990s and late 1980s, and that the Liberal Party dug us out of, continues. As an example, the move last year to kill thousands of jobs created under the summer career placement program has ended up being nothing short of a disaster for students.

I strongly support CASA's support of the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. We know that 95% of the money goes to targeted needs. All provinces and territories belong. It operates with a very efficient 4% overhead compared to 28% for the Canada student loans program.

Let us stand up for our students and tell the government that it should be listening to our student leaders and implementing these proposals immediately.

[Petitions, November 16th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table a petition. The petition contains another regrettable list of people who have been financially damaged by the income tax breach of trust.

The petitioners ask the government to acknowledge that its final justification for imposing the tax was flawed, to apologize to Canadians who were unfairly harmed by its reckless broken promise and to repeal the 31.5% tax on income trusts.

[National Peacekeepers’ Day Act, November 15th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, there are members here who indicated they have membership in the Royal Canadian Legion in some form or another. I am very pleased to second this bill to establish a National Peacekeepers' Day on August 9 of every year.

Indeed, 120,000 Canadians have been killed in conflicts since World War I. This includes several hundred peacekeepers who have been killed serving Canada and the world in this capacity.

I congratulate the hon. member for Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing for recognizing our Canadian peacekeepers who have earned the respect and admiration of the international community. His speech was as erudite and articulate as ever.

This bill is a continuation of our strong support for veterans across our country.

I was honoured to speak at the Thunder Bay South cenotaph ceremony and then I visited five other legions across my riding. For those who may not be aware, that is about a 1,000 kilometre round trip.

As we discuss Canada's role in Afghanistan, it is especially appropriate to remind ourselves that peacekeeping is an honourable aspiration for us and brings us to the point of our current role in the world. That we support our combat troops in Afghanistan is unequivocal. Their end goal, as mentioned, is peace.

Is there an expanded role for Canada's military in this troubled world?

Recently I was one of two Canadian members of Parliament who were part of the team to ratify the compact with Iraq in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Besides the secretary general of the United Nations, the prime minister of Iraq, Condoleezza Rice of the United States, there were many other presidents and heads of state representing 80 countries. Canada is very fortunate to have a capable team in its foreign affairs department, and thus most of the hard negotiations had already occurred.

Canada has contributed $300 million to assist in five areas, including: security reform, such as training police; governance in electoral processes; humanitarian assistance, such as landmine removal; basic social and economic needs, such as safe water and new classrooms; and democratic development, such as building a free press.

Although our participation in Iraq is minor, it is a chance for us to reaffirm our role as independent peacemakers. Several diplomats told me off the record that Canada's role has been diminished by our doing whatever the president of the United States tells us to do. Canada has a way to go to restore the damage this has inflicted on our reputation.

These meetings set in motion a process to help rebuild Iraq into a free and democratic nation. As with all peacekeeping, there can be no illusions about how difficult and lengthy this process can be, but this is a model that can serve to restore freedom to other oppressed countries. The reconstruction of Europe, Japan, and more recently Croatia, are examples of what can be achieved through sincere international cooperation.

What troubled me the most as I discussed our role in the world was the loss of our neutrality by snuggling up too closely to the United States. This has cost us, in some measure, our position as a peacemaker in the world. Some say they agree with this and that might sound acceptable, except I truly believe that the world needs more negotiators, arbitrators and neutral referees to settle these conflicts.

Our loss of status by becoming a mini clone can only be overcome by asserting ourselves as a nation that knows its own mind as a sovereign country. We used to be the country the rest of the world trusted because we were independent thinkers. We do not need to be in lockstep with the United States. In fact, we are undermining our own foreign service by becoming essentially parrots of American foreign policy.

We do value our relationship with the United States, but if we do not make our policies as an independent free nation, we lose the respect of the rest of the world. Americans are our best friends and great neighbours, but I believe they also want to respect our sovereignty.

The representatives at Sharm el-Sheikh described the importance of these conferences, “that finding stability in Iraq is the key to world peace”. Many leaders of national delegations stated frequently that these were historic meetings that could only come about as a result of people who do peacekeeping. Yet Canada did not even send a senior minister and my job as an observer was to study and report. I returned to Canada quite troubled by the loss of reputation. People representing other countries asked me what has happened to Canada.

To wrap up, a National Peacekeepers' Day will be part of the process of restoring our national pride as we honour those who died in the cause of peace and those who continue to strive to make our world a safer place.

[Committees of the House, November 15th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as parliamentary committees attempted to resume their work yesterday, evidence of the Conservatives' 200 page obstruction manual surfaced in full force: stacking procedural committees with government members; reducing quorum to require only one opposition member; allowing political staff from parties to attend in camera meetings; and destroying transcripts after only one year instead of the traditional 30 year period.

These are just a few of the proposals put forward by the government in an attempt to delay and destroy the work of parliamentary committees.

I urge my parliamentary colleagues to remain vigilant to ensure that the essential work of committees can proceed. Colleagues, stand warned.

[Canada Elections Act, October 31st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, nine days ago the opposition raised the point that one million rural Canadians have been disenfranchised by recent changes to the Canada Elections Act.

The government is consulting but corrective legislation has not yet come forward as promised on this most urgent issue.

Will the government guarantee that those one million rural voters, including 5,000 voters in my riding, will be put back on the voter's list by law, not just by some stop gap measure, before any election or by-election is called?

[Confederation College, October 26th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise today to congratulate an exceptional educational institution in my riding on 40 years of service.

Confederation College opened its doors in October 1967 with 238 full time students. The first classes were held in portable classrooms at Sir Winston Churchill High School and the first regional campus classes were held in a converted school bus.

A lot has changed in four decades. Today, Confederation College hosts 4,000 full time students each year with 30,000 graduates around the world. Students enjoy a 130-acre park-like campus. There are over 50 post-secondary diploma and certificate programs and three centres of excellence. In addition, there are seven regional campuses throughout northwestern Ontario.

Please join me in congratulating President Pat Lang, Board Chair Hartley Multamaki and the entire board and faculty of Confederation College on 40 years of changing lives through learning.

[Business of Supply, October 25th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, most countries in the world have a “buy national” program. All G-8 countries do, and in the United States this is at 60%, including the final assembly. What plans does the government have to level the playing field for Canadian manufacturers?

[Resumption of debate on Address in Reply, October 18th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, most of the members of this House received delegations from the police associations of Canada, and they reminded all members that one of the promises of the Conservative Party was that immediately upon taking office, it would address the question of the 2,500 officers. They were very disappointed when they came to see me because after two budgets they still had not produced one officer.

Does the hon. member recall that promise and give it any credence as to whether the Conservatives are simply misleading, being hypocritical or slightly taking this House to its advantage?

[Atikokan Sno-Ho Club, June 12th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Atikokan Sno-Ho Club on its receipt of the Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organizations' excellence award as Canada's outstanding snowmobile club for 2007.

This prestigious award is designed to recognize the club that distinguishes itself in management, trail quality, safety, promotion, development and community outreach. The award was presented at the International Snowmobile Congress on June 9 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Atikokan Sno-Ho Club's accomplishments include upgrading the trail to make it part of the Trans Canada Trail system, developing and promoting the new international circle tour, and publishing a new district trail map.

I ask all members to please join me in congratulating the Atikokan Sno-Ho Club on this significant achievement.

[Petitions, June 6th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, a grade 11 student from Atikokan High School, Alacia Henderson, took it upon herself to make a statement about poverty. Alacia collected over 400 names drawing the attention of the House that funding programs for poverty should be increased, that funding for homeless shelters should be increased, and calling upon Parliament to lower the population of people living in poverty on the streets of Canada.

I commend this young lady for gathering these signatures and taking this initiative. Congratulations Alacia.