Thank you for that question.
I think you're right. We're talking about the foundation there. It's interesting to me that so many of the other speakers identified the need for research and science. That can't happen unless people are trained and educated in public post-secondary education. I'm a Newfoundlander, and I wouldn't be where I am now without Memorial University. I know the same is true for Deatra. These things are crucial.
As you say, the scholarships and fellowships for graduate students have not increased in about two decades. That's roughly the time when I started teaching, actually, as a new professor. My new undergraduates, when I was starting, suddenly had what was quite a lot of money after many years of frozen fellowships. I was on the earlier regime, so I was a little envious of my new students.
It makes a huge difference in all kinds of ways. There are equity issues, as we know. Members of equity-deserving groups are less likely to have other sources of funding. If we want to get them in through the pipeline, we need to provide that support to allow them to focus on their studies while they have those years earmarked for that. My own graduate students find themselves now having to work. It extends the time of their degrees and often results in long-term precarity.
I think this is basic to improving our capacity across the country. We're losing talent as a result of this situation. It's to the benefit of the entire country. It connects to all of the other issues that we've heard about today relating to affordability, housing and so forth. As I mentioned in my remarks, any dollar that goes into education is an enormously powerful economic multiplier. It pays back. It's also a vital equalizer. It helps reduce inequality right at the source and over the long term.
Just to speak to some of Sharron's concerns, of course we need public post-secondary education to train those health care professionals that she was talking about, but education is also a vital social determinant of health. This is low-hanging fruit, as you say, but it is something that will pay dividends if it is addressed in a timely way.
Thank you.