Mr. Speaker, like many Canadians, I and my constituents were disappointed to learn that the British government was discontinuing its Commonwealth scholarship program for students from Canada.
The Commonwealth scholarship plan was created in 1960 to enable promising students to study in Commonwealth countries other than their own, so that they might better contribute to their own countries while fostering mutual understanding within the Commonwealth.
Past Canadian recipients who have studied in the U.K. include several presidents of universities, the governor of the Bank of Canada and countless other distinguished Canadians. In justifying its decision, the U.K. government said it wanted to focus scholarships on countries that are more aligned to its foreign policy goals, such as India and China.
Given the tremendously important and longstanding political and social links between our two countries, I find that statement particularly disappointing. It is my sincere hope that the Canadian government will lodge its objections to this move with the U.K. administration and will ask it to restore funding to this important program.