Ontario Budget 2001 : BUDGET PROVIDES FOR QUALITY IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty today introduced a series of investments for quality in education. It was announced in the Budget that the government is firmly committed to a quality publicly funded education system and the government will continue to make new investments in the publicly funded education system to improve the quality of education in Ontario.

The education initiatives announced in the Budget are:

• Since 1995, the government has increased education spending from $12.9 billion to $14 billion, which is more than required to meet enrolment growth; The government's investment in Ontario's publicly funded school system will increase by $360 million this year;
  
  
• A proposed Equity in Education Tax Credit to be phased in over a five-year period for parents of children attending independent schools;
  
  
• An increase in operating grants to colleges and universities of an estimated $293 million by 2003-04 to fund increasing enrolment resulting from all Grade 12 and OAC students graduating together for the first time, demographic factors and a rising participation rate;
  
  
• $100 million to address maintenance costs incurred at colleges and universities;
• An investment of $60 million to start up a new and innovative post-secondary institution, the Ontario Institute of Technology, in Durham Region. This university will focus on preparing students for careers that call for both practical skills and theoretical grounding;
  
  
• $10 million over the next six years to establish the Premier's Platinum Awards, which will reward the very best world-class senior researchers in the province and help universities compete better globally in attracting and keeping top research talent;
  
  
• $50 million over five years for up-to-date equipment and facilities for apprenticeship programs in colleges;
  
  
• $33 million by 2004-05 to double the number of entrants to apprenticeship programs in the skilled trades to 22,000; and
  
  
• $12 million over three years to help foreign-trained professionals, including engineering technicians, nurses, other health-care workers and teachers, employ their skills more quickly in Ontario.

These initiatives build on the Government's commitment through the province's SuperBuild Corporation and its partners, to invest a total of $1.8 billion to provide for the creation of more than 73,000 new students spaces. This is the largest capital investment in post-secondary education in 30 years.

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For more information visit www.fin.gov.on.ca