Although we've been critical of the government in many ways, we were happy when the government created the Canada student grant program, because Canada was one of the few industrialized countries without a national grant program. Unfortunately, that program only provides $2,000 a year, which is less than half of the average tuition. So one of the things we're calling for is a significant increase in the money provided for the student grant program.
The advantage of a grant program is that it doesn't force students into deeper debt. The debt load of students in this country is very high, and in professional faculties it's particularly onerous. In medicine, in dentistry, or in law, it's not uncommon to have people coming out with $100,000 or $150,000 in debt. The social implications are enormous, because now dentists coming out with $100,000 debt don't want to practise in Red Deer or Timmins; they want to practise in a large setting where they can pay it back. The percentage of individuals going into family medicine is one of the lowest in decades. There needs to be more adequate funding for universities so that we don't have to fund universities so much by raising tuition. That's part of the solution. Improved funding for the Canada student grant program is another part of it.