November 5th is the annual students’ Day of Action where students gather to express their grievances and aspirations. This is a suitable occasion for us as a country to have a meaningful conversation about the status of our post-secondary education and its future.

We have one of the highest quality post-secondary education systems in the world. Our universities and colleges have excellent reputations and rich history. However, if we are not careful, much of that success could be weakened as global competition rises.

Canada’s future prosperity, economic and social success depends significantly on the knowledge base of our citizens. Canada is not able to compete with China or India when it comes to low skill manufacturing and unless we enhance the skills of our labour force our competitive edge will diminish.

That means that Canada needs to ensure that all citizens have easy access to higher education. Access to university or college must not be restricted by income level.

Nowadays, students are graduating with huge debt burdens making them think twice about pursuing their higher education. As a society, we need to recognize that crushing student loans over the long term will be a determent to the future prosperity of our country. Also, post-secondary education institutions need sustainable research dollars so they can attract talent and improve our technological developments.

The need to nurture an accessible and robust post-secondary education system may not be top of mind to most Canadians as its consequences don’t surface until years later. This fascinating report reveals a strong correlation between school enrolments in the 1900s and the GDP per capita in 2000. The inescapable reality that if we ignore the challenges faced by students and institutions today, we will pay severe penalties for it in the future. Political and community leaders need to keep reminding the public of the necessity to support post-secondary education, so people don’t ignore those medium and long term needs.

In a complex federation, post-secondary education is not just the responsibility of provincial governments. The federal government can help by doing the following:

In addition to the social and health transfers to the province, the federal government can separate dedicated post-secondary transfers to the province to ensure accountability and traceability and to emphasize the importance of higher learning for the future of our country

Predictable funding for research and development for post-secondary institutions

Grants (not loans) for low/middle income students

Consider exempting the first $100,000 of income from paying income tax after graduation. This will be a great incentive to complete a post-secondary degree and start a professional careers with little shackles

The above are some ideas that the federal government has within its disposal to invest in post-secondary education and protect the future of our country. Doing nothing is not an option.

Students and administrators appear to be the only ones who are sounding the alarm today. We need visionary leadership that will recognize the seriousness of this matter and its ramifications. Those students are doing us favour by insisting that we pay attention. If we ignore their call it will be at our peril.