Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to follow my colleague and to speak on this legislation in support of this initiative by the government.
I am going to make my remarks in three capacities this afternoon. The first capacity is as one who has benefited from the Canada student loans program in the past.
The second is in the capacity of someone who represented in my first term as an opposition member and continues to represent here as a government member the countless cases of students and families that have run up against the deficiencies in the current program.
The third is in my capacity as the chair of the human resources development committee which would be expected to study this legislation more thoroughly.
In my first capacity, if it had not been for the student loans program, I would probably not have been able to pursue university studies through the BA, MA and PhD levels because my family did not have the resources. My family was not of the means to be able to support my entry into university.
As the oldest of eight children in Margaree Forks, Nova Scotia, my father's income was barely above the poverty line. He did his best to provide for his family. If there had been no opportunity for me to receive student loans and student bursaries through the federal government in the early 1970s, chances are I would have done like many others and ended my education at the high school level. Happily that was not the case. I had the opportunity to achieve the benefits of a university education.
I do not think there is anybody in this House who would question the importance now more than ever of young people having access to higher education as a means for being fully productive members in our society and in the Canadian economy.
In my career as a member of Parliament I have represented many young people who have found the existing limits, the existing regulations and the existing red tape associated with the student loans program, the national requirements and in the case of Nova Scotia some of the provincial restrictions, make it absolutely imperative and urgent that something be done to loosen up the criterion, to expand the accessibility of the program and to make the kinds of changes the government is proposing in this legislation.
One of the issues that provided the most work for myself and my constituency staff was of students in Cape Breton Highlands-Canso who were unable to attend university or who had to drop out because the amount of assistance they were able to receive was insufficient to allow them to go to university. There were those whose parents were unable to meet the requirements that the regulations called for in order to supplement what they could get through the student loans program. Because of various forms of red tape they did not receive an answer until it was too late for them to continue. They had to drop out of the program and very often had to go on unemployment or perhaps even welfare.
Time and time again I had these situations in the last four years. As a result, we realized that something had to be done to open the loan limits. It fell on deaf ears when we brought it before the previous government. I am happy that the minister and the government are taking the initiative to review and to enhance the support that the Canadian government provides in conjunction with the various provinces to assist young people in pursuing higher education.
The bill before us delivers on a commitment made by the government in its youth and learning strategy to improve student assistance to better serve the needs of present and future generations of students. The proposed legislation sets the stage for the modernization of the Canada student loans program which has not been fundamentally changed for 30 years. Student loans were frozen by the last government at 1984 levels. The government is increasing the loan limits for students by 57 per cent to reflect the growth in education costs borne by students over the intervening years.
Just to give an example of those increases, in Nova Scotia tuition fees are among the highest in Canada. They rose dramatically over the period when the Conservative government was in power in Canada from an average in 1985-86 of $1,478 per student to $2,415 in 1992-93.
As a result of those increases in tuition fees and the freezing of student loan limits, a growing number of students were unable to pursue higher education. Add to that the fact that jobs for students were not able to keep up with the demand created a crisis situation and some say a lost generation among our young people. I certainly hope that is not the case.
It is urgent that the government act. I believe that in introducing legislation such as this at this time and in preparation for the next school year this government is acting as soon as it is responsibly possible to do so to begin to address that urgent need.
Over the next five years the value of aid for students will be $6 billion, an increase of $2.5 billion compared with the previous five years. This is an addition over the next five years over what would have been made available to students for the financing of secondary education. There is opting out with compensation as there has been in the past to allow provinces such as Quebec to deal with their own programs. In addition the formula for compensation to Quebec and to the Northwest Territories will be expanded to include the new program elements which are made available as a result of this legislation.
Assistance would be enhanced as a result of this legislation and targeted to those in need by increasing the low limits for full and part time students, providing special opportunity grants to meet with the exceptional education costs of students with disabilities, high need part time students and women in doctoral studies and establishing an objective regionally sensitive approach to assessing student need.
The legislation also facilitates the transition from school to work which is another important requirement of our work and labour market environment at the present time. It does this by creating a national program of deferred grants to reduce the debt load of high need students on graduation and by expanding interest relief to low income borrowers.
These are some of the features that are contained in Bill C-28. I am encouraged that the government has moved so quickly in order to introduce this legislation.
I know that I will be asked as the chairman of the human resources committee, perhaps by my colleague from Lévis or my colleague from Medicine Hat, why this legislation is being introduced in advance of the government's program for social security reform and whether this in a sense undermines the social security reform process.
To that anticipated question I would say that nothing in this bill precludes the broader assessment of the needs of post-secondary students and the dealing with these needs as part of an overall social security reform process. In the same way the changes that have been introduced in the recent budget to the unemployment insurance program of course do not mean that the unemployment insurance program is not part and parcel of the social security review process which is part of the exercise that we will be involved with as a government and as a committee. An important point to bear in mind is the reason the legislation in a sense precedes the very important exercise of social security reform which the government is carrying out. Hopefully we will deal with the legislation in an expeditious fashion. If passed it would make it possible for students in the new academic year to take advantage of the new benefits. The social security reform process will take longer.
For that reason alone I would say the government is to be commended for anticipating a trend, which I am sure all members of the House support, toward greater support for the achievement of higher education by our young people.