Finance committee  At the top of my list is faculty. I've said it very clearly. The number of staff, the number of professors in our Canadian and Quebec universities, has dropped in recent years, and the number of students has increased. So if we want to have better education, better quality, and also more research, we need to have more professors.

Finance committee  Yes, the guarantee is on the funding the government gives to universities for research. Before, the system was that only the provincial government paid indirect costs. It paid a certain amount on all grants, either federal or provincial. It eventually decided to fund only its own indirect costs—50% for social sciences and 65% for hard science.

Finance committee  There was some noise, and you're going too quickly.

Finance committee  It's relatively simple: the indirect costs exist, and if nobody pays, then it comes out of the basic funding of universities. The Université Laval has a budget of $430 million and funding of close to a quarter billion dollars for research. The indirect costs represent about $60 million, but we only get $30 million from all sources.

Finance committee  What I know is that the money goes to the provincial government, which recycles part of it to the universities and part to the students through grants. That's how it's done in Quebec. The money is being used for education. But it's split: part goes to bursaries and loans from the provincial government and a part goes directly to the basic university budget.

Finance committee  To refer to the example that was given, I'd simply say that, before putting on the roof, we'd build the foundation. I think that universities must first have the ability to act. They must have the ability to attract good professors, to pay them properly, to have the necessary infrastructure and so on.

Finance committee  I'll give you that answer right away because I have the figure in mind. For indirect costs, we're currently receiving $10 million from the federal government. That represents a little more than 20%, but it varies because the government grants a fixed amount, which it adjusts based on all grants given.

Finance committee  I'll take note of your comment, and I'll send you the information. I'll study the question in greater detail.

Finance committee  That's a quarter of $2.2 billion.

Finance committee  That's how it was explained to me, but I didn't go into the details.

Finance committee  I don't want to dictate to the government what it should do. I can only indicate the needs. In general, we see that, in overall terms, the universities are much less funded in Canada than in the United States. The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada has documented this situation well.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, Laval University has submitted a brief and recommendations. The text explains various matters. So I'm going to do a brief review. The first recommendation, you won't be surprised to hear, concerns transfers for postsecondary education. I believe the federal government contribution to postsecondary education should be restored to 1994 levels, as has been requested.