Evidence of meeting #24 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Vincent Ho Conservative Richmond Hill South, ON
How would you describe the role that private career colleges play in filling gaps left by the public institutions that the Liberal government is failing to see?
President, Council of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Schools of Ontario
I've observed that public institutions are large organizations that take time to change and to implement change. In certain sectors, like ours, the private colleges are able to step in and fill those roles. We can offer the education that's needed and make changes as necessary to meet students' needs for scheduling, access or location in a way that larger institutions cannot.
Conservative
Vincent Ho Conservative Richmond Hill South, ON
Thank you, Dylan.
Ms. Wu, thank you for joining us. Can you speak to the level of demand you see for professionals who are trained in traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture? Has the demand gone up in recent years?
President, Toronto School of Traditional Chinese Medicine
In our situation here, before the pandemic and even before government student financial assistance was available, we may have had five to 10 students in each class. With the financial assistance in the last three to five years, our enrolment has significantly increased. Now we can get 30 to 40 students in a class. This is a huge difference.
The proposed budget last year actually disturbed our students tremendously already. Some of them are thinking about withdrawal from the program because they say they simply won't be able to sustain and continue their education. Some of them are saying, “Hey, I'm going to public college because I can continue to get the Government of Canada student grant.”
If you look at my speech, there is an appendix about the public institutions versus private institutions. In Ontario, there are 16 educational institutions—
Conservative
Vincent Ho Conservative Richmond Hill South, ON
I'm running out of time.
With the Liberals recklessly defunding the financing of training in traditional Chinese medicine, would you see a reduction in new graduates, which would ultimately affect service in your community?
President, Toronto School of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Absolutely. It will seriously affect.... It may even be detrimental for students getting in. They may have to be steered towards other majors at other post-secondary educational institutions, or they may simply stop. Some of our institutions may not even be able to survive.
Liberal
Liberal
Natilien Joseph Liberal Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon.
You know me and you know that there are things I can't let people get away with. My colleague Garnett Genuis is going around asking universities to scrap their diversity programs, but today in committee he's talking to us about systemic racism. This is nonsense.
We're talking about housing. However, if we want to build housing, the budget has to be passed, because as long as—
I'll wait until Mr. Genuis has finished speaking.
Conservative
Liberal
Natilien Joseph Liberal Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Until the budget is passed, no houses will be built. Funding for homes is in the budget, in Build Canada Homes. That's an important point.
Ms. Joomun, I have some questions for you because we're talking about students.
How can student associations make significant contributions to the development of public policies concerning student education and health through government programs?
How can governments help you make a more significant contribution to all that?
Executive Director, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
Thank you very much for the question. I'll answer in English, if that's okay.
Yes, in terms of how we get our student associations and the student leaders involved, again, I think when I see the student leaders I work with on a regular basis, this is like a work-integrated learning they are also getting by being advocates on their campus.
I feel like I'm sounding like a broken record, but my reason for being here is highlighting how in budget 2025 we didn't see a continued expansion of Canada's student grants and loans. We've seen an increase in inflation going forward. What our students are genuinely asking for is to get that continued support they have had since the pandemic. We recognize that this measure was included in the pandemic to support the students, but we haven't seen a decrease in....
Liberal
Natilien Joseph Liberal Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
I'm sorry to interrupt. You said there's no increase in budget 2025. You know there's no increase at this time, but what will happen if the budget is not passed? That's not really a question. If the budget isn't passed, there will be no increase.
Executive Director, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
The increase was temporary.
Executive Director, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
I don't think I'm in a position to comment on whether the budget will pass or not.
Executive Director, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
The increase was temporary, and it will be gone as of July 2026, regardless of whether the budget passes. Students are really quite concerned about what's going to happen after July 2026. That's why I'm here today. I'm asking you to consider making this program and the investments permanent. Students can't make decisions when they don't know if they'll have money to continue their studies the following year. As such, my priority is to ensure that investments in the program become permanent.
Liberal
Natilien Joseph Liberal Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Should all committee members consider that a recommendation? Your voice matters.
Executive Director, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
Yes, students recommend that consideration be given to making this education support program permanent.
Liberal
Natilien Joseph Liberal Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Okay.
What are the most important measures the government should adopt to improve student access to funding?
Also—
Liberal
Executive Director, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
Oh, sorry.
Liberal
Natilien Joseph Liberal Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
We know that some university student populations are vulnerable. My colleague, Ms. Larouche, talked about students with disabilities, but I think there are other vulnerable groups. If so, can you tell us about them?
Executive Director, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
Again, I think the Canada student grants and the loans, as we've expressed, do end up helping a lot more low-income students, students with disabilities and indigenous students to access post-secondary education. That's why we're asking for a little bit more for the permanent investment.
In terms of specific recommendations for these groups, of course I'm happy to follow up on what that would look like. Again, I think the education system, as a lot of our students have said, is their way to get out of the vulnerable groups they grew up in. In terms of social mobility and getting access to these services, for us the main concern we currently have is how we get the students in those institutions and how we support them financially to get into those institutions.
