Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his hard work on committee as well.
No doubt access is a big problem for some low income Canadians. In budget 2006 we made student loans much more available to students as a whole. The post-secondary institutions in my riding and the one in the member's riding overall benefited tremendously from the $1 billion that we put into infrastructure for post-secondary institutions in Canada. I know there is an infrastructure deficit and we have to continue along this course. As a result of that money, the universities did not have to charge students for tuition because the government gave them the money to help them maintain their schools. The $1 billion will help tremendously.
I do support investment in research. I think my colleague will see that budget 2007 will specifically target money for research.
As the member knows, I have a lot of understanding with respect to the challenges that students face. I had a fairly significant student debt myself from university. My mother was the financial aid officer at Trent University in Peterborough for more than a decade. I am well aware of the challenges students face. I also think students have a responsibility, to some extent, to pay for their education. We just need to find the right balance. We have to ensure that every student who wants to go to university or college or seek post-secondary education has the ability to do so, regardless of income.