Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm Jim Turk, the executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. We're delighted to be here.
We represent 65,000 scientists, researchers, teachers, and librarians at 121 universities and colleges across the country.
You have a copy of our submission. We're recommending four key elements of a strategy in moving ahead in post-secondary education.
The first is an increase over the next two years of $1 billion in peer-reviewed and untargeted funding for basic research provided through the three federal granting councils.
The second is an increase over the next three years of the value of cash transfers to the provinces for post-secondary education so that the total transfer is equivalent to 0.5% of GDP and tied to the future growth of the economy. In other words, we're asking that the Government of Canada invest in post-secondary education one-half of one penny of every dollar created by the Canadian economy.
Third, we're calling for the establishment of a Canada post-secondary education act, modelled on the Canada Health Act, that outlines clear responsibilities and expectations for the federal and provincial governments, establishes pan-Canadian guidelines and principles, enacts enforcement mechanisms, and determines a long-term and stable funding formula. We would argue—and we do in the brief, and I will be happy to elaborate during questions—that in the absence of this, it's unlikely the federal government will ever put in the amount of support that's necessary for a successful post-secondary educational system.
The final element is the expansion of the Canada student grant program to provide more assistance for students from low-income and middle-income families and the provision of full financial assistance for qualified aboriginal students.
I don't envy those of you who are members of this committee. You have hundreds of us appear before you making a case as to why our sector especially needs your attention. You've received thousands of briefs making similar arguments.
I would suggest, though, that there are some of us who are bringing forward what I would call “foundational matters”, that are from sectors whose success undergirds everyone else—health care, anti-poverty strategies, and I would argue that post-secondary education is also in that category. It's our institutions that train and educate the people who go into other sectors, whether it be business, agriculture, health, the environment, or the arts. In the absence of adequate funding for the institutions, all those sectors suffer. It's our sector that undertakes the groundbreaking research that allows Canada to advance economically and socially. In the absence of adequate funding, all sectors suffer.
We feel disappointment in the last three budgets. The transfers to the provinces for post-secondary education have been well below what's necessary. They're well below what's been funded in the past, both in real dollar terms and as a percentage of gross domestic product. Again, I'd be happy during questions to answer in more detail about that.
In terms of research, there are three serious problems with the direction in which the previous budgets have been going.
The key bodies for allocating research money in this country are three federal granting councils that were set up to ensure that the public's money was allocated in an accountable and sensible manner. In the last budget, not only was there no new money for Canada's three granting councils announced, but in fact $147.9 million was taken away from them. This is at a time when the equivalent granting councils in the United States got an increase of $13 billion. Given how mobile scientists are, the possible implications are serious.
As well, over the last three budgets, when there was money, it was targeted. So it was the budget that was directing where the granting councils could spend the money. For a government that rightly believes that politicians aren't the best to pick winners and losers in the economy, we're disturbed that they're attempting to pick winners and losers in terms of what research should be carried out and funded by the granting councils.
Secondly, the last budget stopped funding for some vital organizations in this country, such as Genome Canada, which is at the forefront.... There was no new money for Genome Canada or for the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, which funds much of the research on atmosphere and science in this country.
Thirdly, we think there's a fundamental misunderstanding of how science is done. In the last budget, there was a lot of money for physical infrastructure. There was a dearth of money for human infrastructure to operate it. I can give you examples of major research centres in this country that have fancy new equipment but may have to close because they don't have the money to hire staff and to operate the equipment.
In addition to the recommendations for financial needs, I'd urge this committee to press the government to consult with the scientific community through organizations like ours, which represent most of the scientists in this country, so that we get it right. A lot of resources are going into funding this. Let's see that they're spent in a way that allows Canada to move forward.
Thank you.