Mr. Speaker, access to a high quality education is important to help Canadian women achieve economic progress and individual opportunity. That is why the Liberal government has improved access to students, created the Canada study grants, enhanced the education tax credit and created the Canada education savings grant.
The Canada study grants are particularly helpful to women pursuing doctoral studies. All these measures contribute to the government's goal of fostering an environment of lifelong learning. The amount of $1.3 billion yearly in tax relief is provided to students and the families who support them. The Canada student loans program provides $1.6 billion in loans and other financial assistance to almost half of all full time post-secondary students, many of them women, each year.
The Liberal government is firmly committed to helping women and indeed all Canadians who want to learn and achieve the skills required for this knowledge based society.