INVESTING IN BRAINPOWER SHOULD BE A NATIONAL PRIORITY The Harper government has only one priority – i.e., slashing the federal budget in every way it can. Such an obsession is counterproductive, especially when economic activity, both domestically and globally, is weak and uncertain. Yes, after years of reckless Conservative mismanagement (running deficits totaling more than $165-billion), federal debt must be put on a steady downward track. But that’s not the only thing we need. For example, a more prosperous future will require significant investments in post-secondary education, higher skills, science and innovation – bolstering the quantity and the quality of Canadian brainpower, and driving greater productivity, competitiveness and growth. About 50% of Canadians today have achieved some level of post-secondary learning through universities, technical schools, colleges, apprenticeships, etc. And that’s good, but it won’t be good enough. Within a decade, 70% of all the new jobs in Canada will demand post-secondary qualifications. So we need to lift Canada’s PSE achievement rate by 20 points within 10 years. Higher learning is also critical to the health of our democracy. Our system of governance depends on a knowledgeable, informed electorate with unimpeded access to information. Canada is not well-served when barriers (financial or otherwise) stand in the way of greater access to post-secondary education. Or when research is commercially-focused only, with no value attached to any curiosity-based “pure” science pursued as a public good. Canada is not well-served when statistics cannot be reliably collected or tabulated; or when government researchers are barred from speaking in public; or when voices of dissent are ridiculed. Canada is not well-served when Access-to-Information procedures are subverted by politics; or when libraries and archives are closed or destroyed. As a national priority, good public policy should seek to enrich Canadian’s capacity to learn, to create new knowledge and disseminate it broadly. That doesn’t come cheap. But in the words of former Harvard President Derek Bok (often quoted by former University of Regina President, the late Dr. Lloyd Barber): “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” Under our Constitution, education is a provincial responsibility, but because of its importance to our quality of life and our success as a nation, generations of Canadians have agreed that higher learning is a field in which the Government of Canada should be a willing and constructive partner. Better access to high-quality learning, knowledge and information for all Canadians is a national cause well worth pursuing. By the time we celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, we should aim to make Canadians the best educated, most connected and innovative, and most democratically engaged people in the world.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 18:06:10 +0000
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