Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by hundreds of students in my riding. They are quite worried about their tuition fees. They note that as a share of a typical family's income, tuition fees are higher today than at any point in the last 60 years, that more than 345,000 students are forced to borrow from the Canada student loans program, and that the average student debt for an undergraduate degree ranges from $21,000 to $28,000, depending on the province. They also note that Canada's student loan debt is increasing by more than $1.5 million each year and has ballooned to more than $12 billion, which is more than the debt of some of the provincial governments.
The petitioners are asking the Government of Canada to invest heavily in a needs based grant through the Canada student loans program for students at public universities and colleges.