Statement made on 05 March 2008 by Senator Claudette Tardif
Hon. Claudette Tardif (Deputy Leader of the Opposition):
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. In Budget 2008, the government stated that in the first year, the new Canada student grant program is expected to reach 245,000 college and undergraduate students, an increase of over 100,000 students currently receiving debt remission in grants. Yet, there is no increase in funding for 2009-10. The figure stands at $350 million, the exact same amount that the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation receives annually.
That means that the new program will provide the same amount of money to a much larger group of students, an extra 100,000 students, at a minimum, and perhaps up to 500,000 students, depending on how we qualify eligible students. If the goal is to increase participation and completion rates and the largest concern of students is high tuition costs, how does giving less money to more people achieve that goal?
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