Madam Speaker, there is an important role for the federal government to ensure that there are many services provided to Canadians equally, fairly and in a balanced way. Education is certainly one of them.
The federal government certainly has a role to fund post-secondary education. It has failed in that role for many years. The transfer payments that universities were provided through the provinces have not moved or increased in the way they need to. That has actually shifted a lot of the responsibility to students, who have to pay a lot more in tuition, and it has left universities looking for other alternatives.
The member who spoke before me talked about turning to private partnerships. This is unacceptable. It is the federal government's responsibility to ensure fairness and balance throughout the post-secondary education system.