I haven't really computed the dollar amounts or anything like that. I think we need to view this in a dynamic context, which is why it was important for me to provide the notion that these are not elite scholarships that we're talking about. These are apprenticeships. These are for people who already have undergraduate degrees, who are in areas that are needed and wanted by the economy. I think there are formulas, and I'll let the department of science compute this.
However, if I may, I'll just tell you what happened yesterday. I was on a panel, speaking with the Canadian Mathematical Society. As all of you appreciate, mathematics is one of the top-five areas from which we need people because we need them everywhere, from modelling the environment to modelling agriculture, to actuary...etc. A first-year Ph.D. student got up and said, “I'm very motivated to do this, but I'm paid less than the minimum wage. I cannot live on this. My parents cannot support me. If I go and work at a bank, I make four times what I'm being paid.” It's hard to be motivated to do advanced studies in these circumstances.
I guess this is the kind of criteria and thinking that we need to have here. What is a fair and just stipend for someone who's contributing to advancing knowledge, who's doing full-time research and who's, at the same time, training?