Ontario post-secondary investment means mining the…
Gold in students' grey matter

Alberta has oil, oil and more oil. Alberta has no provincial debt, and Canada's lowest taxes. So why isn't everybody going there?

Good for Alberta, by the way! Ontario shares in Albertans' pride. As someone who was a British Columbian for six years, I know and share the pride that westerners feel in their province, their resources and culture, their accomplishments and all that makes western Canada unique.

But Ontario is still "where it's at." Ontario has been, continues to be, and will remain the centre for Canadian business, manufacturing, media, culture, arts, and most of all, the source of more of Canada's best brains that anywhere else. In most fields, your rise to the top will likely start out, end up or cause you to pass through somewhere in Ontario during your career. Hopefully Mississauga, but I do have a bit of a bias there.

That's not bragging, it is stating the obvious. Ontario has the closest access to the U.S. market. Forty percent of Canadians live in Ontario. More cars are built in Ontario than in any other North American jurisdiction. The banks are here; the arts community is here; Canada's manufacturing base is here; the money is here, and most of all, so are the smart people and the post-secondary educational institutions. Ontario is the destination of choice within Canada for the best and brightest of our immigrants, whose business acumen, skills and needs drive Ontario's economy which remains by far the largest in Canada.

Alberta has oil in the ground. Ontario has drive and ideas in the heads of its post-secondary graduates. Investing in Ontarians' future – through post-secondary education and enhanced skills training - is the route to continued prosperity for Ontario. That’s why Ontario is creating more high quality post-secondary opportunities for Ontario students. Through Ontario's $6.2 billion Reaching Higher plan - the largest post-secondary investment in 40 years - students, their families, the companies they create and the enterprises they start and build are getting results:

• More opportunities: 86,000 more students in college and university – a 22% increase compared to four years ago;
• More grad spaces: adding 12,000 more graduate students by 2007-08, over 2002-03 levels;
• More affordability: more students receiving assistance than ever before - 120,000 different students receiving grants, including 60,000 new up-front tuition grants;
• More assistance: an increase in student assistance maximums - $9,500 to $11,900 – a 25% increase after an 11 year freeze and every dollar over $7,000 is a grant, not a loan;
• Breaking down barriers for first generation students, aboriginals, persons with disabilities and francophones;
• Improving quality: more professors, better equipment, improved student support services.

Ontario believes that everyone deserves a fair chance at a higher education. That’s why Ontarians support a progressive system of student assistance: the most aid goes to those students who need it the most. We’ve enshrined Ontario's commitment to accessibility in the new Student Access Guarantee, negotiated with each college and university. Through the guarantee, no qualified Ontario student will be prevented from attending due to a lack of financial support programs to help cover the cost of tuition, books and mandatory fees.

Making higher education more accessible must be matched by a commitment to quality. For the first time, Ontario is providing three-year guaranteed funding to colleges and universities. The investment of $4 billion this year rises to $4.3 billion by 2008-09 – reaching $1 billion more in annual funding compared to where we began. We’re hiring more support staff and faculty, adding new educational resources and improving student support services.

Together, we’re creating more high quality post-secondary opportunity in Ontario. When we began, 35 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds were participating in post-secondary education. That number has grown to 40 per cent – the highest rate in Ontario’s history. More students, higher quality education, and financial support for students – these results show that the Reaching Higher plan is working – and everyone deserves credit for doing their part. Ontario is closer to achieving its goal of ensuring that every Ontarian has the opportunity to pursue a post-secondary education or enhanced skills training – because Ontario won’t reach its potential until every one of us has a chance to reach our full potential.