It gives me great pleasure to second this motion and I truly believe and we have to continue to lay down a solid foundation for our youth who wish to pursue post-secondary education.
Mr. Speaker, over the lunch hour, I had a chance to go out and meet several students who had shown a fond example of demonstrating their concerns through a democratic approach. They were out there with signs and placards. It was really nice to meet the students and the parents, as well as some of the supporters, who were some high school students looking forward enough to say wait a minute, these are opportunities that could take away from us. We want to make sure they are there so it can help empower their education goals.
Mr. Speaker, I am a full supporter of merit-based education. These grants can help focus in on that and cause like a carrot to remind students to work just a little bit harder and perhaps they would be rewarded. Mr. Speaker, taking that chance away sort of takes away some of that motivation and I think that’s shameful.
Mr. Speaker, I am wholeheartedly in agreement that if we keep the Scholarship Program high, as one of the things that gets reviewed and discussed further, we have to build in a component and return a service. Mr. Speaker, if we take the approach of setting them just as grants and based on merit-based only, well then, Mr. Speaker, the numbers being subscribed today need to be re-evaluated.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to stress that investing in education is one of the best choices our government and future governments can make and it does little for investing into the future of our youth by taking it away from them.
Mr. Speaker, this supports and recognizes their hard work and I am certainly behind the students and I stand with them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.