Human Resources committee  The only thing I can say is that there is an HRSDC-funded program that you should ask them about. It's called Skills Link. It specifically targets the under-represented population, the one that might be also unemployed. In the literature I've read about Skills Link, I think they do target people with disabilities.

Human Resources committee  I would think that all post-secondary institutions are agnostic as to whether the person is disabled. They're looking at the entry-level requirements for each program. If you're talking about the person who hasn't even been able to get to post-secondary and needs the supports for that, I suggest that there are other federal and provincial support programs that help people complete their learning.

Human Resources committee  What I wanted to come back to.... You picked Alberta. Post-secondary is a provincial jurisdiction, as you very well know. Alberta calls it a “web” of credentials, not a ladder. We have hierarchical thinking in most of this country: BA, MA, PhD. We call it a web, with any point of entry, any point of exit.

Human Resources committee  I would make some additional points outside of what Jim said but including what Jim said. You, sir, were talking about the proverbial high school dropout. There's also the traditional term, “youth at risk”. There's a new acronym I would like to introduce to the committee, and it's called NEET: not employed and not in education or training.

Human Resources committee  Thank you. Just to jump off from where Jim was, I think we are all aware that Canada ranks first overall in the OECD on the post-secondary attainment of our population. But credit is seldom given to the fact that this ranking is bolstered by the college sector. Alone, pure university attainment would put Canada at eleventh place in the OECD.

Finance committee  Thank you very much for your question. Indeed there are vast opportunities in the areas where Canada has had either historical or recent industrial strength. Both in my day job and in the work I've just finished, I think sometimes we focus too much on chasing other countries and the new great good that the IT sector will bring and have overlooked some of our endowed abilities to produce equipment and technology and processes to harness what we already have, where we have expertise already.

Finance committee  You're referring to the knowledge infrastructure program?

Finance committee  Every one of my members benefited to some great degree. You're right; it's about bricks and mortar. I think it's a misnomer to think it paid for research facilities. It didn't; it paid for bricks and mortar and deferred maintenance. It's a very important program. All our colleges of Polytechnics Canada have completed those projects on time.

Finance committee  Thank you. Thank you for inviting us to address your committee. My name is Nobina Robinson, and I am pleased to speak to you as CEO of Polytechnics Canada. By all accounts, the immediate economic outlook is generally pessimistic, and the word “recession” is no longer being whispered in corridors.

Finance committee  Okay. You've asked many very fundamental questions.

Finance committee  I think the federal government is beginning to consider that, yes, the ROI—the return on investment—needs to be looked at, which is why it has recently created an expert panel on business innovation. I can only speak about the inputs and the outputs of my members.

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. Polytechnics Canada doesn't get a cent from any of these councils. We represent colleges that can compete and then on a competitive basis obtain funding from a variety of sources. There is a difference between the three federal research granting councils in Canada—those would be the natural sciences council, the social sciences council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, which fund the research activity—and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, whose president is here, which funds the research equipment, infrastructure, and facility.

Finance committee  In different kinds of competitive projects, partnered with industry often, as CFI has explained, and leveraged with other sources of funding, institutional or private sector, for different kinds of purposes. If you have a project that's trying to do an IT technology, you go to NSERC, but if you're trying to study the impact of better business practices in a certain sector, you'd go to the social sciences council.

Finance committee  Well, we are happier than we would have been a decade ago, when college research was not funded at all by any federal department or granting council. We are new players, new entrants, and we are very glad for the little recognition there is. But the balance is something that over time needs to be rectified.

Finance committee  The chair will tell me how many seconds I have left to answer. I have two minutes?