Finance committee  Thank you for having me. Young Canadians have been sold a bill of goods. They've been told that if they take the initiative to get a higher education there would be a well-paying, secure job that would follow to pay back their student loans with ease and that they would enjoy hi

Finance committee  For sure. Thank you for the question. One of the main reasons I focused so heavily on debt within my presentation was that the two are very intertwined. You cannot separate the level of debt a student is currently incurring to obtain the skills they need to work from their abil

Finance committee  Absolutely. Rural education is a major factor. We have a system that has encouraged certain industries to be focused in specific areas. We do have a serious problem in the country in terms of regional disparity and diversity of the employment opportunities. That's something that

Finance committee  The Canadian Federation of Students—I didn't put it in the part at the beginning—we are Canada's largest student organization. We represent over 600,000 students across the country. In terms of the work that we do, a big part of what we do on the advocacy side is to try to brin

Finance committee  The recommendation I made was that the federal government, as a first step, essentially try to pave the way for other industries to eliminate this outdated practice that has been abused throughout society. I think that the idea of getting skills through internships is certainly

Finance committee  Yes, I think on the surface the Canada job grant presents a helpful alternative for employers. The details are where we will run into any problems or issues with it. We're still vetting through what those details will be. We didn't necessarily see them on budget day, as an exampl

Finance committee  Yes, absolutely, the base starting point should be to track that type of information.

Finance committee  Yes, absolutely. Tying into what was answered previously, it is in a diverse labour market that we are stronger. It is the way we are the strongest. This is what we see when we compare ourselves with other countries. Having diversity of offerings, as Bonnie was highlighting, is

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Absolutely not; in fact, studies have shown that many industries' fields have stagnated or reduced, particularly in metro areas like Montreal and Vancouver.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  No, absolutely not. In fact, the inverse is true. We are seeing a continuing trend in a negative direction, particularly in the largest provinces in the country, that is resulting in fees going up at higher rates than we've ever experienced. Those rates are constant. We saw some

Finance committee  In which province? Across the board? About $1,700.

Finance committee  Right now, as of this year, it's $6,000.

Finance committee  What?