Human Resources committee  I think some of the issues before you in our brief speak to some of the key areas. The challenge we have with the student loan system that exists now in both Canada and Quebec is that it's a system designed for the sixties, but is now operative in the 21st century. So we tinker a

Human Resources committee  What we used to have at one time was that the federal government was responsible for all of this and worked with the provinces in identifying the needs in the area of workforce development, but the federal government was the one that controlled the budget. All of that has now bee

Human Resources committee  Your question is very good and it allows me to draw the standing committee's attention to one recommendation I did not speak to, but it is in our brief of course, and that is the need for additional resources in the area of infrastructure. Back in the nineties I was the presiden

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much. There were a lot of questions there. First, you were talking about the tools. The association and its 150 institutions are operative right now in probably 75 countries around the world, because the rest of the world has really realized what Canada probably i

Human Resources committee  All of it.

Human Resources committee  Absolutely. We've been on record for the last six years, before the finance parliamentary committee, about the importance of, one, increasing the funding; and two, targeting it. It's very important to target it, because that way we have the greatest sense of how it can move forwa

Human Resources committee  First of all, thank you very much for those comments. In fact, by those comments, you've certainly convinced me that you have a good sense of what our institutions are all about. In fact, I would say that your colleges and your institutes and your CEGEPs are probably Canada's bes

Human Resources committee  Actually, we're quite concerned about what the future of that is going to be. As you know, close to $350 million is invested in learner assistance and is targeted very much to the neediest, so it is more than likely touching upon many of the areas this committee would be concerne

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to be with you this afternoon to discuss a very important subject. The Association of Canadian Community Colleges wishes to congratulate the standing committee on undertaking a study on employability issues in Canada and p

Finance committee  Thank you for your question, and thank you for your sympathetic response. First of all, I just want to correct the perception, really, that while there is a recognition that colleges are in the provincial domain because of education and post-secondary education...I'd also like t

Finance committee  Access has always been important, and for us, it's finding ways to try to provide opportunities for those communities that have not had access to our communities. This connects, of course, to the funding issue. We have long wait lists for some of our programs because of the deman

Finance committee  The short answer is yes.

Finance committee  Actually, I would be remiss to try to respond to your last question, simply because I haven't had the opportunity to look at the real impact of those cuts. Rather than just read the headlines in the paper, I would prefer to have the opportunity to see what the impact is. On your

Finance committee  Our institutions...as I mentioned earlier, there are 150 of them spread out across roughly 1,000 communities. They look at probably four ways in which we respond to those particular needs. First of all, as community colleges, we're very much focused on the needs of the community

Finance committee  I agree with Ms. Fortier. However, I am not sure I agree that there has been no movement. There has been a lot of development in recent years. As Ms. Fortier said, the fact is that there is movement in other countries too. It is truly a very competitive environment. The only arg