Mr. Speaker, I take exception to a few comments my friend from the Liberal Party of Canada made on the fact that the government had invested $1.5 billion in education. He did not tell us that it cut $5.3 billion from post-secondary education.
It is the same old story with the Liberal government. It gives with one hand but takes four times as much back with the other hand. It really has put students who try to excel at a disadvantage.
The motion put forth by the member for Fundy--Royal is excellent and is worth reading again. It says:
That, in the opinion of this House, the government should consider introducing a tax credit based on the repayment of Canada Student Loan principal, to a maximum of 10% of the principal, per year, for the first ten years after graduation provided the individual remains in Canada.
He has hit virtually every point in the motion. I will be supporting it. The only thing I might have changed is that instead of would consider, the government would just do it.
There is a reason why I think this is so positive. I went to law school at the University of Victoria. A number of my colleagues had significant student loans and it placed them in hardship upon graduation. They had low incomes when they entered the workforce for the first time. They had a difficult time repaying the loans as they had just started their careers. There is no question that their investments in education will be compounded in what they pay in tax dollars over their lifetimes. There is no question the government will get much more back in income tax from them over the years than it would if they were not educated.
It is an excellent motion. What does it do? It gives students a 10% tax credit each year for 10 years for their student loans. It is not a big number item for the government. These people generally are not paying a lot of taxes in their early years of employment anyway. They are in a low tax bracket. They are struggling to make ends meet. They are just getting out of school.
The other point that is good is the individual has to remain in Canada. One of my passions and why I got into parliament is the brain drain. The government will argue that it has a positive brain gain but it is not telling us is that we are losing some of our very best and brightest students to our neighbours to the south.
Those very best and brightest students are the future economic engine of this country. They are the future entrepreneurs and CEOs who will create wealth for this country and create permanent lasting jobs that the government cannot, so that we have a strong tax base and can afford the social programs that are so important to us.
The motion goes right to the heart of keeping our graduates in Canada in their early years of life after graduation before they become rooted into a community, before they become involved in a long term relationships and before they become loyal to a company. We need them to stay in Canada upon graduation. We need to give them an incentive to stay here. The motion would do that by giving them a 10% tax credit on a student loan each year for 10 years. By doing that I think we would keep them in Canada.
It brings me back to a story of a mother who came into my riding office last June. There were tears streaming down the poor lady's face. She had just put her son on a plane to the U.S. after he graduated from the University of Victoria. He got a job and was moving there. The opportunities were there for him. She said that she had had dreams of her children and grandchildren growing up in Canada.
She really brought it home to me that her son had a good opportunity to work for a U.S. company, that he would probably meet a girl there, get married and establish a family there. That happens in our younger years. People become loyal to a company, and that is where he will establish his roots.
The point I am trying to make is that it is critical that we get their roots established in Canada in the first 10 years of their employment so that these people can become the economic backbone of this country. We have to keep the very best and brightest here.
I applaud the member for Fundy--Royal for bringing this motion before the House. It is an incredibly important one that should not be overlooked. It is one of the passions that got me into parliament.
We could tweak this when it gets put into legislation to make it stronger, but by and large it hits the high points by giving a tax credit. Once a person graduates, 100% of their student loan could be forgiven over 10 years. In that 10 year time frame these students would likely set roots in Canada, become loyal to companies and make this country prosper.
I believe right now that the average student loan owed by students when they graduate is around $25,000. I did not have a student loan when I went to school. After working for 10 years, I went back to school on my savings. However many of my fellow students had significant student loans when they were going to law school. They struggled to make ends meet in those early years on very modest incomes. This motion would go a long way to encouraging them to get into the workforce. They only get 10% a year for the first 10 years. There is no point in waiting. This encourages them to get into the workplace early and encourages them to stay in Canada. They will obviously become taxpayers.
I do not look at this as a cost to the Canadian government, but rather as more of an investment. If we keep these people in Canada now, over their lifelong career they will pay a lot of taxes and provide a lot of jobs, thereby providing to our economy.
I encourage all members to support this motion. If this motion passes tomorrow, I hope the government will act on it quickly, unlike other motions passed in the House that do not see the light of day.
I look around in the House right now and I see a number of pages, all first year students at one of the universities in Ottawa. I have no doubt in my mind that if some of them do not have student loans now they will have when they graduate.
This is a very well thought out motion. I spoke with the member for Fundy--Royal and told him of a similar bill I thought of that would have done the same thing over a five year period. I cannot stress the importance of giving our youth, our most important resource in society, every chance to succeed.
Many youth struggle to get into university. Imagine if we could keep these people in Canada once they get out of university. Their roots would be established here and they would become our economic engine in the years ahead and create meaningful lasting jobs. They would become the backbone of our economy. It is critical that we keep them here and this would be an excellent start. This would be an investment in our country's future. It would not be a cost to keep them here. It would be a very positive move.
I encourage all members of the House to support the motion of the member for Fundy--Royal to create a tax credit for students in the first 10 years upon graduation. It is an excellent opportunity. We could then push the government to hopefully bring this from a motion to legislation before the House. We would all be better off for it.
