Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question and I am happy to answer it. I had a meeting with Trent president Bonnie Patterson on Friday, when we spoke at length about the federal budget. She was particularly thrilled with the additional commitment the government made for a 40% increase to federal spending on post-secondary education. She was even more thrilled with the 3% annual escalator clause in the budget, which means that the federal government's commitment to post-secondary education will be maintained at a level that meets the inflationary needs of the universities.
When we talk about post-secondary education there are two things to keep in mind. There is the cost, and we absolutely know that we need to keep post-secondary education affordable, but there is also the quality of post-secondary education. Certainly the presidents of Canada's universities have stressed at great length that they need funding so they can maintain the very highest quality of post-secondary education.
In addition to the funding allowing them to address both needs, we also made a significant investment of over $500 million in the Canada Foundation for Innovation. This is money that post-secondary education facilities across this country access and use to invest in research materials that provide our students with the very best education available. University and college presidents across this country are thrilled with this budget. I am very proud that the finance minister brought it forward.