It was long before that, in the 1960s, with Mr. Breton. I have been proud to defend this concept for a long time. Thank you for using it in the Quebec context.
Yes, studies are needed. I know that the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne has a study under way on funding. The problem is the difficulty of accessing those figures. The funding is spread out across the provinces, and it takes a lot of hard work to try to figure out where the money is going. Is it true that money for post‑secondary education is being used to clean up roads, for example?
Ms. Joly's white paper suggests that the provinces need to be more accountable for the funding they receive. We must not allow the provinces to become unaccountable. In that sense, I am quite supportive of a dialogue between the provinces and the federal government to better understand where the money is going.
That said, there are disparities between provinces. The investment in higher education is lower in Ontario than in other provinces. It is all related to the vision of higher education that is unique to each province. Is higher education considered a market or a social service? In Quebec, it is a social service; in Ontario, it is a market.