"The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ‘state of emergency' in which we live is not the exception but the rule...There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. And just as such a document is not free of barbarism, barbarism taints also the manner in which it was transmitted from one owner to another. A historical materialist therefore dissociates himself from it as far as possible. He regards it as his task to brush history against the grain."
Walter Benjamin, "Theses on the Philosophy of History."

In his speech to the Council of Ontario Universities "Summit" on November 19, 1997, the Premier provided all the bromodes about how the Universities would contribute to the growing wealth of the country by spending money on technology, science, communications. As a matter of miscommunication and the deliberate distortion of the ways that technology might be applied, it is instructive to note the Orwellian touch to his "speech". The phrases about humanities, sociology and geography PhDs being redundant were clearly uttered, as reported elsewhere(Globe & Mail, Nov. 21, Toronto Star, Nov. 20). Either the script has been re-edited by the Great Winston Smith himself in order to "correct" the record, or else the Premier purposefully inserted the references to specify his own prejudices. Either way, it is a document which should be thought over carefully in order to understand how the Premier sees knowledge, not as process or thinking, but as objects of consumption and multnational production.

And, incidentally, his low grasp of the new technology is displayed in his thow-away line"And, by the way, if you know of any 11 -year olds who could show me how to redesign my web-page, please see me before you leave". The most vibrant web-pages, are not designed by 11 year-olds, but by creative artists, critical theorists, humanists and those who understand the complexities of the new global communications systems. Has Harris met any of these people? But, then, he probably doesn't want to, or the whole House would collapse like a pack of cards.

Ioan Davies

Mike Harris:

Thank you Peter. Not just for that warm introduction, but for taking the lead in bringing all of us together for this important discussion.

You know, we've gathered the day before an interesting anniversary. Tomorrow would have been the 108th birthday of Edwin Hubble, whose development of the concept of an expanding universe has been described as the "most spectacular aastronomical discovery of the twentieth century".

Hubble was working at an observatory when he proved the need for a telescope larger than the 100- inch reflector that, at the time, was considered the best possible piece of technology.

He was instrumental in the design of tthe 200-inch Hale telescope, which in the end opened up previously unheard of avenues for exploration. But at the time of development many people thought it unnecessary.

"What do you expect to find with the 200-inch telescope?" he was asked on a BBC program. Hubble's reply: "We hope to find something we hadn't expected."

That story, I think, describes one of the most imporrant roles of the university in modern society. To ask fundamental questions that challenge existing wisdom ... to create new fields of understanding ... to bring both the world we can see, and the world we can't, into sharper focus and apply learning to results that can benefit us all.

Ontario's universities are built in this tradition. They have a long history, not just of innovation and excellence, but of preparing the leaders we rely upon in society. These are traditions we in the Ontario government are dedicated to seeing continue.

I think many of you share my goals for Ontario - to make our province the best jurisdiction in North America to live, work, invest, and raise a family.

A skilled and highly educated workforce is central to our ability to do that. Aside from the benefits to our province, students themselves are in a much better position economically and intellectually, with the security of a post-secondary education.

That's especially obvious when you consider the 26% growth in jobs for university graduates since 1990, compared to under 4% overall job growth in the same time frame. But it is no secret that, like so many other institutions today, Ontario's universities are facing tremendous pressures on all fronts.

Between changing demographics ... funding challenges ... the rapid growth of information technology ... and an entirely new way of doing business round the world, our universities are being asked to manage a great deal of change in a very short time.

As peter pointed out this morning, global competition means that pressures are no longer felt from city to city or region to region. Today, we compete across borders, mountains, and oceans in ways unthinkable only thirty years ago.

Now if we could all be as successful at managing this change in our universities as Peter and his bank have been, we'd be in good shape. Our universities have shown that they are up to this challenge - in many ways, more than some businesses.

We all face new challenges and new ways of doing things, I want to assure you that our government is committed to working with you to manage the change that you're facing. It is in this context that we commissioned the Advisory Panel on future Directions for Post-secondary Education, chaired by Dr. David Smith. The report has given us much to consider.

I particularly want to thank everyone in Ontario's post-secondary community for their advice and assistance given to Dr. Smith. The panel's recommendations touched on many aspects of post- secondary education, and they are important steps in our ability to plan for the future - together.

Peter Godsoe's invitation to join us today asked you to continue this dis~ussion, and to make further recommendations on some of the issues facing post-secondary education. As an important part of that dialogue, I would like to take a few minutes to discuss some of my thoughts on priorities for continuing our universities' traditions.

First, let me suggest some possible definitions of excellence in the system.

Second I'd like to discuss some ideas on the important issue of maintaining access to a system that benefits students and society alike.

Third, I would like to propose some questions about accountability, and how a plan could be built to let our universities and students face the challenges of the future with the hope, optimism, and confidence that an excellent education bestows.

So to begin, the need for excellence.

What do I mean by excellence? Well, I would suggest that it could be defined a little bit differently depending who you are in the system. To students, if could mean a system that attracts faculty that are the best in their fields as lecturers and researchers. A system that guarantees quality education in the classroom and the lecture hall.

A system in which they can be confident that their education is preparing them for new challenges, and that their degree is recognized as second to none in the world. To academia, it might mean a system where leading-edge research and study can be undertaken, where there is a commitment in the system to being at the top of the most exciting fields.

To administrators, it may be a system rhat has the flexibility to respond to new needs, through new partnerships and new approaches, recognizing that every year tough decisions are needed if universities are to keep meeting the changing needs ofstudents and staff.

To business, I suggest it's a system that provides a skilled, educated, and thinking workforce ... Literate ... numerate ... adaptable .... able to connribute to the technological and knowledge-based industries of the future.

And to the future of our province, it means a sustainable system that balances needs and capabilities. A system with uniformly high standards.

A system that continually strengthens the quality of life that Ontario has historically enjoyed that's how we might define excellence. Many suggest that to achieve these delinitions of excellence requires a rethinking of how our system works.

One of the most important ways to strengthen our system, and indeed one of the key recommendations of the Smith Report, is a stronger focus on research. The growth industries today - the intensely competitive, entirely global, and totally Imowledge-dependent fields like telecommunications, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals - are the ones that our economy will rely on for growth in the future.

Ontario has a great depth of highly productive, R &t D - intensive industries, and we lead the nation in R & D performance. But the best in Canada is simply not good enough. We must be amongst the best in the world, and out universities must be leaders in their fields of expertise.

That's why, in his budget speech last May, the Minister of Finance announced the creation of the R&D Challenge Fund. Over the next ten years, this $3 billion program will encourage the private sector and universities to work together on research and development initiatives.

Provincial government funds will be provided to support proposals in which universities will be expected to raise at least one-third of tihe costs from the private sector. Support will be awarded though a competitive process that will include a peer review of projects, with a main priority of attracting and keeping leading-edge researchers in Ontario.

At the same time, to promote partnerships between business and world;class research institutions, our budget also announced a 20 per cent tax credit for corporations carrying out R & D in partnership with a university, research hospital or non-profit research centre. We also distributed A Framework for a Research Policy in Ontario to encourage discussion and set long-term goals for making research a major public policy issue in Ontario.

Let me say a few words about the nature of the research we might expect to see. All of you know that there is a role for the theoretical research that allows us to break down the boundaries of what can and can't be done.

Like the difference between discovering new sources of electricity, and the concept itself....

Or the difference between the design of the lunar rover, and the astrophysics that got it there ...

Or the difference between new programming on the Web and the development of binary code ...

Theoretical research is absolutely crucial to our ability to lead and excel in the race for the new ideas of the next century. And by the way, if you know of any 1 l-year olds who could show me how to redesign my web page, please see me before I leave!

This research focus gives our universities another opportunity to build the excellence that will benefit students, academia, business, and the future of our province. And it's an important step in convincing the brightest minds of the future that a rewarding career can be built right here at home.

And we are confident that that direction has been established. Last month Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor, and Jim Wilson, Minister of the newly created Minister of Energy, Science, and Technology, presented this year's Polanyi Prizes to five outstanding young researchers.

All of them have chosen to begin their academic careers at universities in Ontario, in fields as varied as chemistry, medicine, physics, economics, and literature. We've seen hopeful precedents in other industries that the so-called brain drain can be reversed.

For example, the Canadian music scene is enjoying a stay-at-home renaissance where bands like the Tragically Hip, Shania Twain, Bryan Adams and others are rewarded by their success at home and internationally ... part of a vibrant scene for which the world is coming to Canada - not the other way around.

Of course, brain drain is more easily prevented in a society where an educated population allows prosperity, investment, and job creation to lift our entire standard of living. That leads me to the second part of my remarks - access.

Ontarians can be proud of the accessibility of our postsecondary education system, which will serve more than 400,000 students this year. The expansion of the system to serve such a large share of our population is one of the great educational achievements of the past 30 years.

The requirements of the knowledge-based economy will make access an even greater necessity for our province. But at the same time, universities have not been immune from the financial pressures that face institutions at home and around the world.

To that end, while we have committed to stable funding for the 1997-98 academic year, as the Smith panel recommended, we have also increased the flexibility for universities with respect to the tuition fees that they may charge. This is something many schools have asked for.

We are taking steps to make sure that, with increased flexibility, comes increased opportunity for the assistance that can make the difference for many students. For example, we require that 30% of any tuition increase be set aside for student aid.

Even though our government has been dealing with a very challenging deticit and financial situarion, OSAP funding is 26% higher today than it was two years ago - over $504 million in 1947-98.

And our government introduced a new ininative, the Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Fund, in which all universities have participated.

The Minister of Fianance made it clear when he announced this initiative, in the 1996 Budget: "Monies from each fund will be used to assist academically qualified individuals who for financial reasons would not otherwise be able to attend college or university.

Universities raised almost $250 million, which, with the province's matching $250 million conttibution, will create a half-billion dollar fund for bursaries that will assist more than 160,000 students over the next ten years.

We have heard many stories of the program's success. Bill Leggart from Queen's wrote to say "I believe this investment will strengthen the knowledge infrastructure of Ontario in ways we cannot rven imagine - we are investing in people."

Peter George from McMaster University called it a "creative and timely solution" that will let Mac help three and a half times more students annually. As a further guarantee of accessibility, we made a commitment in the Common Sense Revolution to implement an income Contingent Loan Repayment Program.

Clearly, when we are trying "make sure that students have the best possible start in their career, the default rate of 20% or more that OSAP is experiencing is unacceptable. Accepting that students will continue to be asked to cover an increased portion of their education, we must work to avoid this trap.

A final design has not been selected, but we am at work with all of our partners on several models. The participation of the Bank of Nova Scotia along with the CIBC and the Royal Bank has been most welcome.

Support from the federal government is critical for us to meet our goal of having such a system ready by September 1998, and I hope that every lender and partner will continue to participate in this important initiative.

All of these initiatives represent some reordering of the way post-secondary education is made accessible. But questions of access don't just mean questions of affordability.

We must ensure that in earlier years of education, high student achievement levels mean that a quality post·secondary education is an option for more and more young people.

That is why our government is reforming to the elementary and secondary school system - to put Ontario's student achievement levels at the top, at a level that prepares them for the new and changing demands of the 21st century.

Our goal is to send, to post-secondary levels, students who have already achieved high degrees of proficiency in the skills that will let them get the most out of the next stage in their education

And we are also interested in new models of delivery for the programs offered by our universities. Take an exciting initiative like Contact North. This distance education network has grown in its eleven years to the point where, last year almost 2,400 students were enrolled in over 100 university courses.

Over 85% of the students Live outside the five biggest communities in Northem Ontario. Lakehead and Laurentian Universities in particular have contributed to the successful management of this project, which has opened access to post-secondary education to so many people who would have otherwise not had the chance to build their skills.

As technology continues to advance, I think there is a great deal of room for this concept to be expanded, especially when you consider the penetration of the program.

The questions of developing these initiatives that guarantee access are what lead me to the final part of my remarks here today - accountability. both in service to students, and financially as well. We must continue to ensure that studenir and taxpayers receive full value and service for their investment in a university education.

Like any good univesity level seminar, we must be willing to ask probing questions. Whose responsibility is it to ensure quality of education? What do we mean by "quality"? "Quality", and "value for money" both for students and for society?

I know this past spring saw a positive step with the first cycle of undergraduate program audits by the Undergraduare Program Review Committee, under the adminis.cration ofthe Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents.

Other questions of value and service need to be addressed

From the use of performance based budgeting as has been adopted, ia a mutual and collaborative way, in New Zealand, Great Britain, and the United States. To a consistent and co-operative approach to the transferability of credits from one university to another, and from colleges to universities ...

There are opportunitezs to make value to students and taxpayers an even greater priority. These kinds of questions reassure students that there is a very real commitment to accountability -- to their needs and to the quality of education they receive.

Accountability, efficiency, and relevance are important keystones ofour govemment's measurement system. We have restructured our own government operations in order to save hundreds of millions of dollars.

With our municipal Who Does What exercise we are eliminating duplication in service and delivery that wastes so many millions of taxpayer dollars. And the Health Services Restructuring Commission, chaired by Dr. Duncan Sinclair, is reviewing our province wide-hospital sector.

By modernizing, updating, and reorganizing our hospital system we will continue to fid the savings that will let our health care system adjust to new challenges. All of you have shown determination in confronting the financial pressures that succeeding governments have challenged you with this past decade.

But I ask, is there more that could be done?

Are there further questions of system-wide service, value, and efficiency that you yourselves can address?

Who in the university sysrem will decide to reduce enrollments or close programs when there are few jobs available in a profession, like certain professional or PhD programs?

Who is responsible for opening or expanding programs in fields where there are significant shortages, like computer science and software engineering?

Our government respects the autonomy of universities in our education system. But I suggest that there are no avenues for change to rule out as we face the challenges of the next century.

We need universities on side as a willing partner in addressing questions about their future - questions that, to a large degree, should find their answers from within the system.

So that is where we find ourselves today. Decisions must be made about ensuring good value for students and taxpayers in their investment in post-secondary education.

Some people call for full deregulation. I suggest to you that the onus is on those advocates to demonstrate that, in a deregulated envlonment, universities will be able to make the tough decisions that will produce the quality of education that students and the public demand

I have also heard calls for a two-tier system, I would ask those who call for such a system to demonstrate that this will not lead to an erosion - in perception or reality - in the acceptance around the world that a degree earned at any Ontario university of the very highest quality.

Days like today show that by gathering together we are on the road to solving these issues, and the Smith Report continues to be a helpful guide. Bur there is still a great deal of work to be done with universities, government, business, and students among others, as partners in a new design.

It's a design that must emphasize the quality of Ontario's universities - quality that I believe comes directly from commitments to excellence, access, and accountability in our university system.

The invitation for today 's seminar challenged you to make recommendations on how we can work together to our goals, and I look forward to hearing more of your suggestions.

Our universities have allowed Ontario to reach its historic place as Canada's most economically strong province. Places that fulfill Benjamin Disraeli's description of the university - places "of light, of liberty, of leaming."

We.have a solid foundation on which our government is committed to building the best place m North America to live, work, and invest. So I ask you to continue work with us. Take advantage of the context in which our universities, governments, and business now operate.

Realize the limitations that govemments face in today's climate, but never accept this, as I do not, as a reason why Ontario's universities should not be among the best in the world. And continue to work together with all the partners to revitalize the university system that is our key to a brighter future.

Thank you.