NEWS RELEASE

Ref: 860-370/01

73rd Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada
Toronto, Ontario - February 23 and 24, 1998

Toronto, February 24, 1998

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MINISTERS OF EDUCATION TO MEET WITH FEDERAL MINISTERS
ON BUDGET ANNOUNCEMENTS

The ministers of education announced today that they will meet federal Finance Minister, Paul Martin, and Human Resources Development Minister, Pierre Pettigrew, on March 26 to react to the announcements concerning education in the February 24 federal budget.

"The provinces and territories have been seriously concerned for some time with the escalation of student debt," said the Honourable Paul Ramsey, Chair of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). "A number of jurisdictions have already put programs in place, at considerable cost, to help debt management and reduction. My colleagues and I want to discuss the student debt issue with the federal ministers."

Ministers of education also support initiatives aimed at harmonizing student financial assistance programs in order to make them more understandable and manageable for students, financial institutions, and governments. They also reiterated the principle, recognized since 1964, that provinces and territories may opt out of joint programs and receive full provincial compensation for providing their own programs.

Mr. Ramsey, who is British Columbia's Minister of Education, said the renewed federal interest in supporting students and investing in education is welcome after years of continued cuts. However, he stressed that, given the provincial and territorial responsibility for education, he would have preferred an increase in the transfer payments for education, which have been considerably reduced over the past few years. "It is essential that there be discussions before decisions are taken."

The Millennium Scholarship fund will also be discussed at the March 26 meeting. Ministers of education reiterated their view that the scholarships should take the form of a grant and be awarded primarily on the basis of need. In addition, ministers agreed that the fund should be administered through existing student aid programs to avoid needless duplication with existing programs. "An administrative structure for the Millennium Scholarship that is not integrated with provincial and territorial programs will simply add unnecessary complexity and may not ensure the optimum use of resources," stated Mr. Ramsey.

The Quebec minister, the Honourable Pauline Marois reiterated the position of the Quebec government that Ottawa should transfer to Quebec fair compensation for the monies that the federal government intends to allocate to the proposed Millennium Scholarship fund.

-30- INFORMATION:

Lara Inglis, CMEC
Tel.: (416) 964-2551, ext. 256
E-Mail: lara@cmec.ca

---

252 Bloor West, Suite 5-200, Toronto, Canada M5S 1V5  Téléphone 416-964-2551  Fax 416-964-2296  E-mail cmec@cmec.ca

Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat (CICS)

webmaster@scics.x400.gc.ca