Evidence of meeting #53 for Finance in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was colleges.
2:20 p.m.
Bloc
Jean-Yves Laforest Bloc Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
When you say that Mohawk College has perhaps not received its fair share, I imagine that you mean compared to the other public colleges.
2:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Advancement and Public Affairs, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology
Compared to the other public colleges and to our competitors.
2:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Advancement and Public Affairs, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology
No. As far as I know, perhaps one private college, Redeemer College in Hamilton, has received a little money, but most money is spent in universities and the public colleges.
2:20 p.m.
Bloc
2:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Advancement and Public Affairs, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology
We have programs in health sciences, in engineering, in business, and so on. Public colleges in Ontario offer programs in all imaginable areas. We have more than 110 programs that lead to careers in all areas.
2:20 p.m.
Bloc
Jean-Yves Laforest Bloc Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Do you also have general, pre-university programs?
2:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Advancement and Public Affairs, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology
No. In Saskatchewan and Alberta, colleges provide two years of education before students go into university. But in Ontario, colleges are institutions where the programs usually lead to jobs.
2:20 p.m.
Bloc
Jean-Yves Laforest Bloc Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Okay, they are self-contained programs. Great.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is all.
2:20 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for coming. I'm going to do some rapid-fire questions. I don't think I'll get to everybody, but I'll do my best. I'll start with my friends from Mohawk College.
Obviously you applied for the KIP program and you didn't get it. What isn't getting built?
2:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Advancement and Public Affairs, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology
Expansion of the facilities to take in more students at the Fennell campus and at the Brantford campus will not take place. We've grown significantly at the Brantford campus and we just applied last week to the southern Ontario development program governed by FedDev. The principal campus is the Fennell Avenue campus, and we are not able to expand opportunities for students in engineering technology, human services, and health sciences.
2:20 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Those programs would have benefited the most if you got extra money.
2:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Advancement and Public Affairs, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology
Yes.
2:20 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Okay. I may come back to you, but let me ask you something right now. Getting new capital is one thing. Then you have to operate the place. Would you have had the operating money in place to be able to operate?
2:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Advancement and Public Affairs, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology
Based on the expansion involving individual students for whom we get tuition and the government grant on a first-student basis, the answer is yes.
2:20 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Thanks very much.
I have a question for the Writers' Union of Canada. I'm very interested in the taxation for the grants, the ones that keep you alive for a little while. What's that amount? Does Margaret Atwood get that, and the guy in my own town? Who qualifies, and how much is it? I have no idea.
2:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Writers' Union of Canada
They are small amounts--well, they are not that small: they can go as high as $10,000.
October 21st, 2009 / 2:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Writers' Union of Canada
No, it's one shot, one time. It's for writers who have to identify that they are working on a work and that they need money to buy time to write it. That money is used for groceries and rent.
2:25 p.m.
Conservative
2:25 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
I'm interested in that, so I appreciate your bringing it forward, because I had never heard of it before. I've been on this committee for three years in a row now and I don't think I've seen that one brought forward before, so I appreciate it.
I have a question for the March of Dimes. I appreciate your submission on the taxation issues for business. I completely understand that, but I'm going to ask you a different sort of question, if you don't mind.
Some people who came to my office relatively recently have issues with the definition of “disability”, because it doesn't apply to them. They don't feel it applies equally to everybody. Some disabilities are identified and some aren't; it depends on the doctor you may have. Are your clients having issues with that? I just happen to have a little run on that in my office.
