Finance committee  Thank you. It's a pleasure to address this committee on the subject of adult literacy and its impact on our country. The briefing document for this committee, “Canada's Place in a Competitive World”, asks us to consider whether our citizens have “the proper skills...to work and

Finance committee  The federal government in this fiscal year will spend about $40 million on literacy. The $17 million represents an amount that was cut, so $40 million is what is left over in this fiscal year. But what's especially difficult is that the government has changed its priority so th

Finance committee  I'm afraid I can't speak for the government, although I appreciate their desire to reduce the debt. But we do feel it's “penny-wise and pound-foolish” to cut literacy programs at this time. We know that jobs are in danger—the jobs of literacy tutors and the jobs of the staff of

Finance committee  Yes, thank you. Your numeracy is better than mine.

Finance committee  Yes, I think you are.

Finance committee  The provinces have done a fantastic job of actually improving test scores in literacy and numeracy across the board, and we are seeing increases in those students who are graduating from high school in terms of their literacy and numeracy. In a lot of cases, people actually end

Finance committee  Yes, now it is. We are encouraged by the fact that the education system is actually improving across the country, but the bigger block of Canadians, demographically, are the adult group. And if we are really going to see encouragement in literacy levels we have to address the is

Finance committee  We have a wonderful program called Look Under LEARN, where ABC actually holds the rights to the word “learn” in the yellow pages. Adults who are interested in upgrading their skills can look in the yellow pages under “learn” and access a provincial or territorial coalition, which

Finance committee  Thank you so much. You're absolutely right, and it would be remiss of me not to explain that these coalitions really are the backbone of literacy programs in the country. As you mentioned, they are generally the first point of referral for someone seeking help, often through ou

Finance committee  I think that's a great idea. There's nothing like hearing someone who's gone through an adult learning program speak about their personal story to really move people and have them understand the issue. How do I make that offer to the federal cabinet?

Finance committee  All right.

Finance committee  Yes. It's a standard set out by an international organization that ranks literacy levels around the world. They've determined that level three is what is required for people to get along in the western world. It's on a scale of one to five. The people at levels one and two in Can

Finance committee  Oh, I see. Statistics Canada, in partnership with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, did this study in 2003. They tested 5,000 Canadians and 5,000 people in western nations. I think another six or seven nations participated in the survey.

Finance committee  Yes, absolutely.

Finance committee  Yes.