Evidence of meeting #37 for Finance in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was federal.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10 a.m.
Partner, Russell Mitchell Group, Canadian Clean Technology Coalition
In some cases capital needs to be deployed, so the technology needs to be depreciated over time. There needs to be access to P3 types of arrangements that can fund it.
But to be very blunt, in Canada we prefer to buy from IBM. We're not good at buying technology from ourselves. We often prefer to wait until our companies are bought by the equivalent of IBM so that we can buy something that is prepackaged.
10 a.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Just briefly, this says Canada would be “the first dark sky nation”. What is a dark sky nation?
10 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, LED Roadway Lighting, Canadian Clean Technology Coalition
I'll just show my fixture off for a second. As you can tell, this is actually only consuming 43 watts of energy—
10 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
You'll have to speak into the microphone; otherwise, translation will not catch it.
10 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, LED Roadway Lighting, Canadian Clean Technology Coalition
I just wanted to demonstrate that the actual fixture I'm demonstrating is fully cut off, so that basically all the light is directed downward. With a lot of the high-pressure sodium technology that was introduced in the 1970s, about 15% to 20% of the light is going upwards. Wasted light is wasted energy.
10:05 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you. Maybe you can fix a light on Parliament Hill and the waste we use.
Mr. Pacetti, you have five minutes, please.
October 21st, 2010 / 10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Thank you.
I would like to thank the witness for coming to meet us today.
I would like to ask Mr. Viau, from the Conseil national des cycles supérieurs, a brief question. In talking about indirect costs, you stated that an amount is paid by the federal government. Is there also an amount paid by the Government of Quebec?
10:05 a.m.
President, Conseil national des cycles supérieurs (Québec)
Yes, the Government of Quebec currently provides measures through the budgetary rules of the ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport to cover indirect research costs. Currently, if my memory serves me correctly, 55% of the indirect costs of research are covered at the Quebec provincial level. At the federal level, as I explained, only 20% of the costs are covered, forcing universities to use their operating funds in order to be able to—
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
There is a request to increase the federal portion from 20% or 25% to 50%, I believe.
10:05 a.m.
President, Conseil national des cycles supérieurs (Québec)
We are saying that, at a minimum, we have to set a threshold of 40% over the next few years, in order to be able to begin to improve the position of the federal government. It was only in 2001, relatively recently, that the federal government started to cover indirect research costs. The program was not made permanent until 2003. Since then, not much has changed.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Ms. Clayton, you were talking about the cost of education and the debt. There's a big debate going on, depending where we come from in this country, about whether the cost of education is too low and the debt is too high. How do we reconcile the two?
Some people are saying that we should probably increase the cost of education, but then we have students who are coming out with huge amounts of debt. I think your organization faces that on a daily basis.
10:05 a.m.
President, Canadian Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
We do indeed, and it is a balancing act. In reference to the earlier question, there is a quote that I have in my submission. It says clearly that this is the key. Students will come if they have their needs met, but if the loan is too high, then they have a propensity to just discard their education, because if they can graduate with a debt of $60,000 that is not within their ability to repay, then they'll just—
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
But if they're coming out with an education, what's wrong with $60,000?
10:05 a.m.
President, Canadian Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
There's nothing wrong with $60,000 if you're getting an LLB degree.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I'm not saying $60,000 is the right number; it could be $100,000 or twice that.
10:05 a.m.
President, Canadian Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
But if it's $60,000 and you're getting a Bachelor of Childhood Education, that's a huge issue.
I talk with students on a daily basis who are graduating with a $50,000 student loan debt and an $80,000 line of credit debt, and they're coming out with their law program degree. Well, they have no problem paying that off within a reasonable amount of time.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Would you advocate that the amount of debt you are carrying should be based on the type of degree you get?
10:05 a.m.
President, Canadian Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
They already do that. There are already provinces that recognize that there is a long-term projection for the particular degree you get and what you're going to be able to earn. An example of that is in the province of Newfoundland, where they help students who are taking their early childhood education degree, and they reduce their debt upon completion because they understand that they're going to be working with children and they are not going to have that potential to earn as much as a lawyer will earn. So that's already in place.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Savoie, I would like to make a comment and ask a question.
First of all, I would like to say that the Bloc Québécois bill was improved by the Liberal Party.
Just for the record....
I wanted you to know that.
The Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec is asking the federal government for $2.6 billion... I apologize, I am reading the English version.
Are you saying that the Quebec sales tax has been harmonized with the GST?
10:05 a.m.
President, Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec
That has been the case for a very long time.
10:05 a.m.
President, Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec
Harmonization occurred a very long time ago. Unfortunately, I am not a tax expert.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I am an accountant and I can tell you that that is not true. That is the problem.
Mr. Dubeau, you are asking for $25 million to be invested in strategic international market access and development initiatives.
Could you explain why this $25 million should not be included in the $300 million that will eventually be transferred to the Canada Council for the Arts?
10:10 a.m.
Co-chair, Canadian Arts Coalition
We recognize that there are probably other mechanisms which would enable the government to promote arts and culture internationally. The Canada Council for the Arts certainly has a role to play in this sector, however, it is not the exclusive player nor is it the only intervener that should be supported in—
10:10 a.m.
Liberal