Thank you very much.
The Regroupement des cégeps de la région du Québec (association of CEGEPs of the Quebec City region) is pleased to participate in this consultation with the Standing Committee on Finance of the House of Commons, and it thanks the members for their attention to this brief. The topic of this year's public hearings, "Canada's place in a competitive world" is very close to home for the CEGEPs of the Quebec City region.
No one would dare dispute the important place that must be reserved for the education system, and especially post-secondary education in order to meet the challenges that are already facing Canadians and will only intensify in an economy that is now based on knowledge, technology and performance. In this context—and you will certainly agree with this—a well-educated population and a highly competitive labour force will be indispensable advantages in ensuring the country's prosperity. The CEGEPs of the Quebec City region play a major role in this in their community.
The CEGEPs of the Quebec City region will have their work cut out for them over the next few years to meet the development needs of their community. First, they will need to work at training a sufficient number of graduates to meet current labour market needs and close the growing gap between the supply of graduates and businesses' demand in the areas of science and technology. They will also need to adapt their study programs to the new realities of the labour market and develop new ones to support the region's development projects and modernize their infrastructure.
We note that a number of companies linked to the high tech sector, including some very large ones, have recently opened here, and our economic development and coordinating bodies have now received a clear mandate to promote the development of the high tech industry. This focus will now be given priority in the region and certain high tech markets to be developed, such as nutrition, pharmaceutical, health care, optics and photonics, electronics, geomatics, intermodal transport, to name just a few.
The CEGEPs' growing difficulty in meeting the current and foreseeable needs of companies and in supporting their growth threatens our competitiveness and risks weakening a fragile economy in Quebec. In order to maintain and improve our quality of life it is urgent that we invest more in post-secondary education, especially now when countries like China and India are investing massively in education, particularly in the sciences and technology.
The CEGEPs of the Quebec City region would like to make three recommendations to the Government of Canada to conclude this brief. They propose that the Government of Canada respond favourably to the urgent demand of the Quebec government, which seeks a substantial increase in federal transfers of funds for post-secondary training; undertake the transfer to Quebec of substantial, recurring and stable funds that are predictable from year to year; and ensure that these funds are equitably distributed among the CEGEPs and universities.
How will this money be used? To maintain the accessibility and quality of services, to update technological infrastructures, programs and human and material resources, to consolidate CEGEPs within their communities, to welcome immigrants and train them in French, to increase the skills of people already in the labour force, and finally to ensure the durability of buildings and the quality of the learning spaces.
Thank you.