Y e WW S news@op.douglas.bc.ca ; David Cochrane DT TAWA (CUP) — The federal rovernment’ plans to give scholarships I" debt relief to students in its pcoming budget is good news but tducation officials say Ottawa should Iso invest more in research and evelopment. When Finance Minister Paul Martin nveils his budget on February 24, the iberal’s much anticipated Millennium und will take centre stage. The fund— moured to range between $1-billion to 4-billion—will provide thousands of nual scholarships to needy and high- chieving students. But while students will likely mmand the bulk of Martin’s attention, e budget should also include some ra funding for research, “We're hopeful in so far that the lovernment has sent all kinds of signals at it recognizes the value of research,” obert Best, director of government lations for the Association of Universi- ies and Colleges of Canada, said. The association has been spearheading coalition of seven national education coups representing students, faculty embers and post-secondary institu- ions. Those groups have placed student lebt, which averages almost $25 000 for udents who borrow, as the number one iority on the lobbying agenda. But st says the association in particular has rin Fitzpatrick RINCE GEORGE (CUP) — Paul msey is still a member of BC’s islature and the province's education inister. An effort by a group of constituents have Ramsey fired as their provincial presentative and have a by-election d in their riding fell short. Earlier this onth the group submitted a recall tition with 8,323 signatures on it to ections BC, but they were short of the 908 signatures required —40% of igible voters in the riding—to force ah Schmidt RONTO (CUP) — The Ontario vernment has announced that it has und a solution to high student loan fault rates—tighten up the eligibility uirements for financial aid and nalize programs which don’t churn out ployable graduates. On February 13, Education Minister ve Johnson announced a number of anges to the province's student istance program, to come into effect xt fall. Students with bad credit will no ger be eligible for student loans, and number of years after which parents’ ome will no longer count in the culation of a student's loan has been ended from four to five years after ving high school. Parents are also expected to contribute re to the cost of their children’s cation before they become eligible a student loan. A family of four with income of $55 000, for example, uld be expected to contribute $933 to targeted research and development as an area of concern. Best says research money keeps universities on the cutting edge of new technologies, attracts stronger faculty to post-secondary institutions and benefits students in the long run. “Research is an essential part of the university enterprise in this country,” Best said “We are into a knowledge economy globally and it is vitally important.” The finance minister has publicly acknowledged that aspect of post- secondary education as recently as two weeks ago, when he spoke at a meeting of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. Martin said the upcoming budget isn’t just about trying to keep higher education accessible, it is also about making Canada competitive globally. “What we're talking about is really access to a modern economy more than any other thing,” Martin told the gathering of student politicians. But while Martin applauds the value of higher education and university ~ research, his government has cut almost $3-billion in education transfers to the provinces since taking office in 1993. In that same period, Canada’s federal research councils have seen some of the deepest cuts in their history. Since 1992, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of C recall campaign Ramsey to step down. The group was trying to have Ramsey recalled because they say he told his constituents there would be a surplus in the province's coffers when most likely he knew there would be a deficit. “It’s about a [provincial representative] who has not adequately represented the citizens of Prince George North,” Pertti Harkonen, the Prince George resident who launched the recall motion on behalf of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said during the recall campaign. “Ramsey should have stood up and told us the truth, but he didn’t, a child’s post-secondary education before that child became eligible for student loans. Johnson also annouficed penalties for post-secondary institutions offering programs with high default rates, saying it is the only way to minimize these defaults. Institutions with loan default rates 15 percentage points or higher above the provincial average of 23.5% will have to share the cost of defaults, he said. The government will also require institutions to give students access to program success rates to help them make decisions about where to invest their money, Johnson says. “This will help them make informed choices,” he said. “Students are not getting full information. They've got great intentions. “We want students to have a good deal of information that leads them to a solid career, All we want to ensure is students are informed.” But critics beg to differ. They say this latest announcement is just another Canada (NSERC), the country’s largest granting council, has had its budget cut by almost $65-million, a 13% decrease. Its current budget of $434-million is expected to go down by a further $11- million in the next fiscal year. By’ comparison, during the last five years of the Mulroney government, the council saw its budget grow from $338-million to just under $500-million. Arnett Sheppard, a council spokesper- son, said no one at NSERC wanted to talk about its financial woes so close to the federal budget. But Thomas Brzustowski, the president of the research council, has stated publicly in the past that the cuts have “taken their toll in a way which may not be visible to the public” and have contributed to a brain-drain of some of Canada’s top young talent. “A shortage of funds in research grants means that many young Canadian researchers who might have become great scientists and engineers working at the frontiers of their field could not be supported as graduate student research assistants and chose to do other things: some have left the country,” Brzustowski wrote in the council’s newsletter last year. = The federal government acknowl- edged the need for further investment in research in last year’s budget with the establishment of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. The $800-million fund fails he towed the party line.” Ramsey says the budget matter was an honest mistake. Though the petition was rejected by Elections BC, Ramsey may not be out of the woods just yet. According to Ian Wilson, a spokesper- son for the campaign to recall Ramsey, the only reason they couldn’ get the required number of signatures is because they were given a flawed voters list to work with. “We estimate that we worked with a 20% margin of error,” Wilson said. “Some people on_that list had moved, blow to an accessible and diverse post- secondary education system. “This announcement is appalling for students,” Wayne Poirer, Ontario chair of the Canadian Federation of Students, said, pointing to the tightening up of eligibility requirements. He adds that a grant program also announced by Johnson, through which students whose loans exceed $7000 for the year receive a grant for the amount above that amount at the end of the academic year, is essentially the same as a loan forgiveness policy