Thank you very much.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak before the committee. I am president of Seneca College.
As you would have noted from our September submission, Seneca is the largest Canadian college, with 10 campuses in the greater Toronto area. We service over 100,000 students annually. We are a comprehensive institution with over 150 programs ranging from and through apprenticeship, skilled trades, diplomas, certificates, and applied degrees. We deal with both skills upgrading and a host of professional areas.
Our brief, and my remarks today, support much of what you have already heard from representatives of the post-secondary education system in Canada, whether it be college or university presidents, associations of higher learning, or student groups. There is a convergence among all these voices that there needs to be a dedicated federal transfer mechanism for post-secondary education. Seneca clearly endorses that approach. For the record, we specifically endorse the recommendations you have heard from ACCC, ACAATO, NAIT, ACTI, and Polytechnics Canada.
However, I want to focus my short intervention today on two points where consensus is not always present but action and leadership is certainly needed. With respect to the committee's concern regarding Canada's competitiveness and productivity, there are two principal actions the committee could endorse.
First, given that skills shortage is a primary concern of this committee and that the solution is to fund those sectors that produce the skilled workers, Canadian colleges, institutes, and particularly the polytechnics are best positioned to produce the high-quality skilled workers the Canadian economy needs. This could be achieved through a range of programs--a one-year certificate, two and three-year diplomas--that provide fast returns. In this context, it's critical not to commit errors in our race to produce qualified workers. We recognize and understand that the Canadian economy needs all types of skilled workers. The recent focus by the new Government of Canada on apprenticeship and Red Seal trades is to be applauded.
But we must exercise some caution in that the vast majority of Canadian colleges deal with technologists and technicians. This in fact is the largest growing area of the labour needs, in the area of services such as information services, health services, financial services, manufacturing services, as well as in the area of technology, be it biotech, informatics, building technologies, or simply lab technicians. These are the skills we will need for the 21st century, and these are the skills that can be provided by colleges, institutes, and polytechnics in Canada.
Much has also been said about the underutilization of our immigrants and newcomers to Canada. As mentioned in our submission, Seneca College is in that part of Canada that receives the largest number of immigrants. We respond to those newcomers as best we can by providing language training, career counselling, workplace skills and upgrading, credential evaluation, and bridging-to-work programs. But the demand far, far exceeds our capacity to respond.
You will be receiving a written submission about an innovative GTA proposal that will address this need. Hopefully, you'll receive that shortly and you can take it under consideration.
My second point is that while there appears to be a consensus that Canada's poor rate of commercialization of research is a factor in our productivity lag, we continue to overlook the very sector that is best placed to commercialize the ideas and innovations of industry, that being our colleges, institutes, and polytechnics. Precisely because of their close ties with industry and the local community, as with Seneca, we are positioned to provide market-driven solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises. We have faculty who are tied to industry and students who are involved in research as part of their program.
Yet the stranglehold of the universities on the federal research funding continues. It has not yielded the returns on investment the government has sought. In many ways, we have turned dollars into knowledge, but we have not turned knowledge into productivity.
The time has come to level the playing field for publicly funded research. The 2007 budget should address the sectors of post-secondary education that have regrettably been ignored, undervalued, and that have suffered from underinvestment.
Many voices will argue for the status quo. Some will argue for increased funding of the status quo. We think there needs to be a bold action on behalf of the government to look at colleges, institutes, and polytechnics as a source for improving Canada's commercialization.
In addition, a suggestion for your consideration—