Madam Speaker, I am rather amused by the tone of my colleague's question. My parents came to this country with no formal education, and the one thing that they wanted their children to get was a formal education. Yes, I went to a number of very good universities on scholarships, and they were earned by merit. I earned the Social Science and Humanities Research Council money through a competitive process. I earned that money. I also worked on construction sites in the summer and worked my way through college.
The member seems to insinuate things quite often but his insinuation that everyone else had a silver spoon except him is completely off base. I stand by my education. I stand by the work I put into getting that education. I stand by the work I did to get funding for that education through competitive processes.
What we are trying to do in this budget is to give those same opportunities to Canadians who come from a socio-economic background similar to mine.