Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Would Senator Plett take a question, please?

Senator Omidvar: Senator Plett, I listened carefully to your comments, and I think you’re drawing a line between the past, present and the future. I’m reminded that Winston Churchill said, “If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.” This debate is about the future of our young adults, 16, 17, 18 — however you may call them.

My question, though, is about what I think I heard you say, which is that you were speaking as an individual and not as a member of your caucus here. Is it correct, then, to assume that when the question is called to send this bill to committee, your caucus will vote as each individual thinks?

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Honourable senators, I rise to speak in support of Bill S-215, An Act respecting measures in relation to the financial stability of post-secondary institutions. I would like to thank Senator Moncion for her initiative because it opens the doors for a necessary and imperative conversation.

I know that we can all agree on a lot of things, but we can agree that education, especially post-secondary education, is one of the most essential pillars of nation building. It is the bedrock of our prosperity, our innovation and our place in the world in economic, scientific and cultural terms.

For individuals, it leads to careers and jobs, but simply measuring the value of a good post-secondary education cannot be done simply in economic terms because that misses the mark. It builds people; it builds a whole person and a whole community. The fact that education is a provincial responsibility should not and must not allow us here in Parliament to simply sit back and shirk our responsibility to the nation.

We can do this in a respectful manner, as Senator Moncion has proposed in her legislation.

Underpinning the health of our post-secondary educational institutions is their financial viability. The scene here is not pretty. In fact, it’s a bit of a mess. If we were to be completely honest about this mess that universities and colleges — especially small and rural institutions — find themselves in, then we would perhaps look at ourselves here on the Hill. We have allowed ourselves to be sucked into a financial model that is unsustainable and needs a serious rethink and reboot.

The system relies on federal transfers, provincial grants to institutions and on tuition fees. The federal government also funds research fellowships directly, and if there is a silver lining in the cloud, it is the announcement in Budget 2022 of an increase of funding for research that is allocated to universities. A mix of revenue streams is generally considered to be a good business model, but this is sadly not the case here.

Outside of federal funding of research fellowships, the rest of the revenue model is in distress. First, government funding from all levels of government, which is their mainstay, has been either stagnant or decreasing. Between 1992-93 and 2015-16, the federal government’s contribution decreased by 40% per student.

Second, some provinces have capped tuition fees and the demand from domestic students is limited. These cuts hurt students the most. Many universities lean now on part-time or adjunct professors, which no doubt has a knock-on effect impacting the quality of education our students are getting.

In fact, research studies show that one in four, and maybe even one in five, students in Ontario colleges and universities are graduating with literacy and numeracy levels that do not meet the OECD standards; just imagine that.

Provincial funding for universities is a patchwork. Some provinces fund by quotas, others by student enrolment and others give grants, but regardless, the system is under stress.

For example, the Province of Alberta last year cut $135 million from operating budgets for universities. Manitoba has cut $10 million in funding for post-secondary institutions over the last three years.

Let’s then layer over this stressful financial situation the impact of the COVID crisis. Nationwide, universities and colleges faced a $2.5 billion shortfall. In my province of Ontario, the shortfall was $1.7 billion. The University of Alberta is facing a significant shortfall of $120 million and the same is true for Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Of course, post-secondary institutions have looked to other ways to generate revenue, and for many this means international students. Tuition fees for international students are five times higher than those of domestic students. On average, international students pay $32,000 in tuition annually compared to an average of $6,500 for Canadian kids.

For an international student, Canada is an attractive place. Expensive as the fees are, they are much cheaper than other comparable jurisdictions. In addition, students are allowed to work here under certain conditions and there is a clear pathway to permanency for foreign students. No wonder, then, that we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of international foreign students coming to Canada. In 2010, there were just 142,710 international students, but by 2019 this number had grown to 388,782 students who collectively contributed $22 billion to our economy.

This is a good thing. It is to our credit because it was a national imperative to give Australia and the U.S. some competition in this field.

However, most of the schools that attract international students are the big urban schools such as the University of Toronto, McGill or UBC. Smaller and sometimes more rural schools struggle to attract their share of these students. At Laurentian University, whose bankruptcy precipitated this bill, international students comprised only about 3% of the student population.

Nipissing University, which is also under financial stress, has a total of roughly 60 international students out of a student body of 4,500. Smaller institutions are missing out on the only other source of alternative revenue.

Perhaps Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada should consider fast-tracking student applications, giving preference to student applications who are destined for smaller institutions as an incentive to study and stay in smaller places. We all know how very fed up international students are with the backlog of approvals. Programs such as this could get the train moving in the right direction.

I am all in favour of attracting the best and the brightest to Canadian schools, but I am appalled that the general financial health of our post-secondary institutions depends so much on international students. It’s a bit like predicating that all hip surgeries in Canada will be paid for by international patients. I hope we all realize that the outsourcing of revenue is neither healthy nor desirable for Canada in the long term.

And it’s not good for students either, whether they are international or not. And lest we are left with the impression that these international students are all rolling around in fancy cars and staying in fancy mansions, that is not the case. Many scrape together the fees, their families face significant hardship and the parental expectations of these poor, lonely students are extreme.

The Toronto Star has documented these experiences and they have determined that, despite the fact that many are from modest backgrounds, they pay hefty tuition fees not just for a chance to study, but to stay in this country. But they face difficult challenges, unforgiving timelines, social isolation, parental stress and are often prone to exploitation by employers and others.

If you lived in my city, you would have heard about the suicides by international students and, in fact, the sex-trafficking ring that is operated by exploiters of female foreign students who are here, have no protection and cannot meet their rent.

This is a tragedy of our own making. We shouldn’t be burdening international students without providing adequate supports for them just so our institutions can stay afloat. The end in this case may not justify the means.

I don’t want to go further on the plight of international students because I believe very firmly that this is a wonderful subject and an important subject for a committee study all on its own, but I do think we need to rethink the financial health of our post-secondary institutions.

This is why I welcome the intent of this bill and support that, if passed, the minister would develop a proposal for federal initiatives to reduce the risk of bankruptcy and insolvency; protect students, staff and faculty in the event that an institution becomes bankrupt or insolvent; and support communities that would be impacted by an institution becoming bankrupt or insolvent.

Further, in deliberating on this matter, the designated minister may also want to think about the role of the federal government in supporting universities that promote French-language degrees and diplomas as more than simply places of education but as an essential imperative foundation of a bilingual nation. A different consideration, apart from student enrolment or a decline in the francophone population outside Quebec, needs to be considered.

Senator Moncion has mused about direct transfers to French language departments at colleges or university. A case could be made that this falls within federal jurisdiction because it is about strengthening the bilingual foundation of our country.

We feel the impact of this on the Hill. We have debated, discussed and bemoaned the lack of French-language interpreters, which means that we cannot do our work as much as we would like to. I think the Hill plays an important role in this challenge as well. Of course, we always need to stay within our constitutional boundaries and not wander too far out of our lane, as Senator Martin has warned us. But this proposal calls for the federal minister to engage with provincial governments, consult with stakeholders and propose federal solutions and initiatives so that the sustainability of our post-secondary education systems is strengthened.

Colleagues, the second component of Senator Moncion’s bill is a very important loophole that she has identified and that needs to be looked at. This component seeks to prevent publicly funded post-secondary institutions from having recourse to the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, or CCAA, or the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the BIA — not to be mixed up with the other BIA that we are focusing on — to prevent similar situations to what happened at Laurentian University.

The question is really whether the CCAA, which is under federal jurisdiction, is the right place for colleges and universities to go if they are facing financial issues. I browsed the web and looked at a list of companies that have claimed insolvency protection under the CCAA in the last three months, and here is what I found: a sports franchise, a real estate corporation, a water management company and a pizza company.

The act is, in essence, for the private sector. One must really ask how a publicly funded university fell into this crowd.

As we know from Senator Martin’s speech, it did not have to be this way. The Auditor General of Ontario studied Laurentian University and concluded that it did not have to file for CCAA protection. Instead, despite being offered more money by the province, it strategically planned and chose to take steps to file for creditor protection. This prompted the Auditor General of Ontario, Bonnie Lysyk, to comment that the repercussions of this filing were profound and stirred up strong reactions, especially in Sudbury where the university is an important employer and contributor to the social and economic fabric of the community.

By opting for creditor protection under the CCAA, Laurentian was able to bypass provisions in its collective agreements, allowing the administration to effectively terminate more senior employees and clear a number of long-standing union grievances. Laurentian removed 36% of its programs and fired 195 staff, which severely impacted the aspirations of over 930 students.

The Auditor General concluded that there is a strong argument that the CCAA, an important tool used in the private sector, is an inappropriate remedy for public entities. There are certain principles held high in the public sector — transparency, accountability and the primacy of the public interest — that make the CCAA court-ordered protection a detrimental choice for public entities.

Today it is Laurentian that has chosen this path, and tomorrow it could be a hospital or a museum for all we know. We need to protect the public interest in ensuring the health of our public institutions and close this loophole.

In conclusion, colleagues, I support this bill and wish to have your support in sending it to committee.

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Thank you, Senator Martin, for being indefatigable in your defence of “lost Canadians.” I am the official critic of the bill, and I always thought of a critic as someone who is unfriendly or opposed to the bill, but this is certainly not the case. I am very friendly to the bill, as you well know.

When I became a senator in 2016, and because of my established interest in citizenship, I started to get a lot of emails about “lost Canadians.” I had never heard the term before, to be honest. I was, frankly, lost when I heard that terminology. For those of us who have found Canada, who know what a privilege it is to be a Canadian, to have inadvertently lost citizenship because of what I can only describe as bureaucratic fumbling and missteps is unimaginable.

When I rose subsequently — it was, I think, my first major speech in the Senate — as a sponsor for a major citizenship bill, I described citizenship as a home. I drew a picture of a house, a home, that has a strong door and a lot of windows to let the sun shine in, but also a very strong roof to keep the danger out. The foundation of this welcoming but safe home is grounded in a few essential principles.

The first and most important is equality among citizens. Equality sees all citizens — by birth or naturalization, mono-citizens or dual citizens, whether they’ve been citizens for 50 years or a month — treated equally under the law. Equal rights, equal responsibilities and, when necessary, equal punishments. These are not aspirational goals. These are the floor, the absolute foundation of how equality is expressed in Canada.

The second is the principle of facilitating citizenship or making it easier for people to get citizenship. I think of this, again, as the main floor of the house, a welcoming home with a big fire, blazing to keep out the wretched cold, and with a big welcoming door. However, “lost Canadians” have lost the warmth of this fire. In fact, they were kicked out of the home. Think of it as an eviction.

As we know, our immigration system and our citizenship laws are incredibly complex. Because of this complexity, they sometimes catch people in their net, and it is hard for people to get out and deal with this devastating yet unintended outcome. I will admit that this was not intended. This was accidental, but how often do we in this chamber deal with unintended but devastating outcomes of legislation that was passed either in the other house or here?

Senator Martin has already provided you with the background of how “lost Canadians” came to be lost. I am not going to repeat that. I will just tell you about how currently “lost Canadians” deal with becoming found. It is on a case-by-case basis. They have to make an application to the minister and to the ministry to get their citizenship back. I wonder about the equity of a case-by-case basis, when what we really need is a systemic solution. A case-by-case basis means that everybody who is lost needs to have the same kind of determination and agency as Byrdie Funk, who was a famous “lost Canadian.” She petitioned the court, she petitioned the minister and got her lost citizenship back, but again, it is taken case by case. Senator Martin’s proposal is a systemic fix.

Senator Dalphond last time asked a reasonable question: How many people does this impact? Not that many actually. Maybe a few hundred. Maybe 200. We don’t know, because maybe the “lost Canadians” don’t even know that they’re lost until they have to apply for a passport, and then they find out.

The consequences of losing your citizenship are also severe. While waiting to get your citizenship, you may not have a social security number that is valid. You may not be able to get a job. You may not be able to travel, and you may have limited access to health care — all this at a time when a potential deportation could be in the works. So this is very severe, even if it is for a few hundred people. I think we all understand that injustice to one person, a few people or even a hundred people is intolerable in our system.

I also want to point out that there are other lost Canadians, and I congratulate and commend Senator Martin for being focused and practical on dealing with those whom we can help most immediately. Legislation is never the art of perfection. I believe it is the art of what is possible. This legislation is in our reach. Colleagues, I urge you to support it. Thank you.