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No. 95B No 95B ISSN 1180-2987 Legislative Assembly Assemblée législative of Ontario de l’Ontario First Session, 37th Parliament Première session, 37e législature Official Report Journal of Debates des débats (Hansard) (Hansard) Wednesday 25 October 2000 Mercredi 25 octobre 2000 Speaker Président Honourable Gary Carr L’honorable Gary Carr Clerk Greffier Claude L. DesRosiers Claude L. DesRosiers Hansard on the Internet Le Journal des débats sur Internet Hansard and other documents of the Legislative Assembly L’adresse pour faire paraître sur votre ordinateur personnel can be on your personal computer within hours after each le Journal et d’autres documents de l’Assemblée législative sitting. 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Phone 416-326-5310, 326-5311 or toll-free téléphone : 416-326-5310, 326-5311, ou sans frais : 1-800-668-9938. 1-800-668-9938. Hansard Reporting and Interpretation Services Service du Journal des débats et d’interprétation 3330 Whitney Block, 99 Wellesley St W 3330 Édifice Whitney ; 99, rue Wellesley ouest Toronto ON M7A 1A2 Toronto ON M7A 1A2 Telephone 416-325-7400; fax 416-325-7430 Téléphone, 416-325-7400 ; télécopieur, 416-325-7430 Published by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Publié par l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario 5055 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE OF ONTARIO DE L’ONTARIO Wednesday 25 October 2000 Mercredi 25 octobre 2000 The House met at 1845. I have extreme confidence in the ability of our students, and indeed our working adults, to seize the opportunities and meet the challenges that this change ORDERS OF THE DAY will bring. It is our job to assist them, to provide them with a full range of choices for high-quality education Mr Dwight Duncan (Windsor-St Clair): On a point and training that they will need throughout their lives to of order, Madam Speaker: I don’t believe a quorum is reach their full potential. present. 1850 The Acting Speaker (Ms Marilyn Mushinski): Would you check to see if there’s a quorum, please. As Ontarians, we are proud of the investments we Clerk Assistant (Ms Deborah Deller): A quorum is have made in our post-secondary education and training not present, Speaker. systems. We have all benefited from the highly educated The Acting Speaker ordered the bells rung. citizenry that is the envy of other countries. I want to Clerk Assistant: A quorum is now present, Speaker. remind my colleagues that our success is the result of The Acting Speaker (Mr Tony Martin): Orders of vision and conviction to ensure that our post-secondary the day. education and training system is responsive to the needs of our students. I’m reminded of a time in the early 1960s when the MINISTRY OF TRAINING, choice for a post-secondary system was limited to a COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES university level program and one man had the vision to STATUTE LAW AMENDMENT ACT, 2000 see that times were changing, that students needed more LOI DE 2000 MODIFIANT DES LOIS choices to prepare for the vast new opportunities that EN CE QUI A TRAIT were being created in that time of growth and prosperity. I’m proud to say that the Honourable William G. Davis AU MINISTÈRE DE LA FORMATION not only had a vision for a new system for those changing ET DES COLLÈGES ET UNIVERSITÉS times; he and his government also had the courage and Mrs Cunningham moved second reading of the fol- the conviction to create Ontario’s network of new col- lowing bill: leges of applied arts and technology that opened up a Bill 132, An Act to enact the Post-secondary Educa- whole new era of learning, a whole new range of high- tion Choice and Excellence Act, 2000, repeal the Degree quality, relevant programs that would prepare students to Granting Act and change the title of and make amend- enter the workforce. ments to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities Act / Few would argue that there were skeptics when Mr Projet de loi 132, Loi édictant la Loi de 2000 favorisant Davis set out his bold vision for students. Where are le choix et l’excellence au niveau postsecondaire, abro- those naysayers today? Who among us in this Legislature geant la Loi sur l’attribution de grades universitaires et has not celebrated our colleges’ commitment to our modifiant le titre et le texte de la Loi sur le ministère des students? Our colleges have reached out to employers Collèges et Universités. and built links with our local communities, all to ensure Hon Dianne Cunningham (Minister of Training, that the programs they offered continued to evolve so that Colleges and Universities): Mr Speaker, I’ll be sharing students continued to have access to high-quality and my time with the member for Thornhill. relevant programs that kept pace with changes in our I’m very pleased and honoured to have this oppor- economy and made sure our students got jobs. tunity to celebrate the vast new opportunities that are We can draw inspiration from that experience as we opening up for our students. We know the world around once again look forward to a time of growth, of oppor- us has changed dramatically in the course of our lives. tunity and of innovation, and our government is doing We have seen the introduction of an era characterized by that. We have a new vision. Our Premier, our caucus and the instantaneous flow of information across borders, a our cabinet have a new vision for the future. Our vision is fast-paced technological innovation that is creating whole of a post-secondary system that provides high-quality new fields of study and work, and of the emergence of a learning, that is relevant to the real needs of students and global marketplace where our students must compete the workplace, that will have a place for every willing with the best and the brightest in the world. and motivated student. Our system will be accessible to 5056 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO 25 OCTOBER 2000 people throughout their lives, lifelong learning to ensure post-secondary systems. The taxpayers of this province they have opportunities where and when they are needed are providing the largest amount of student assistance to to upgrade their skills or acquire new ones. our young people, so that they can all have that Like Mr Davis, we are moving forward with our plan opportunity. to turn that vision into a reality. We’ve already taken We are also taking steps right now through our steps to strengthen our publicly funded system and to Ontario student opportunity trust fund, which is over and ensure it is responsive to the needs of students and com- above what we refer to as OSAP. We have established munities. That is our first priority. these funds at each of our colleges and universities, so We are meeting increased demand for student spaces that they will be accessible in a very personal way to through SuperBuild, which, with our partners, is invest- those people who need them. In addition, we’ve ing $1.8 billion to create 73,000 new student spaces at announced a five-year tuition policy for young people our colleges and universities. This is the single largest who want to plan, along with their parents, for their capital construction commitment to post-secondary edu- dream to attend our post-secondary education facilities. cation in the past 30 years. We have already increased This will see our increases capped at 2% per year for the operating grants to $2.4 billion this year to allow our next five years. This of course could mean an increase of institutions to begin to plan for this increased enrolment. $34 for college students each year for five years and $77 We are expanding access to high-demand programs for university undergraduate arts tuition. This is what our through our access to opportunities program that will people will be planning for. This is part of their dream. increase enrolment in the growth areas of science and This fall, more than 4,000 high-achieving students new technology, and we have many private sector part- graduating from our secondary schools earned Ontario’s ners to assist us. We have introduced new programs and first Aiming for the Top scholarships. When fully imple- incentives to strengthen our system’s research capacity so mented, $35 million will be invested annually in these that we can continue to attract the best and brightest tuition scholarships that recognize both academic excel- faculty and researchers. Our challenge fund right now is lence and financial need. Accessibility is our goal. Excel- at $550 million over 10 years, a huge investment, and lence is also our goal. with great recommendations from our post-secondary The introduction of the Ministry of Training, Colleges sector, our universities, we have established a base fund and Universities Statute Law Amendment Act, 2000 of $30 million to support that great research in our builds on our work to date and is another step in giving universities and in our colleges.