Science and Research committee  Thanks for that. I anticipated that I might get that question. There are some forms of social science that require larger amounts of money. Polling research and so on sometimes do. But you're right, of course, that the cost of maintaining a medical lab or a basic science lab can be higher than that of many forms of social science research.

Science and Research committee  Thanks for that. I think that across the board what we're seeing is increasing pressure on everyone, thanks to the unfortunately large number of precariously employed academics. We can't separate those questions from wider system questions. People are increasingly—

Science and Research committee  I think I'm out of time. Am I?

Science and Research committee  Thanks so much for that question. It certainly does speak to issues affecting graduate students. I think this points to a couple of issues. One is that we need to think about a larger amount of funding available across the board. I don't think it's helpful to set this up as a kind of competition between different institutions.

Science and Research committee  Good afternoon. I join you from St. John's, Newfoundland, the ancestral homelands of the Beothuk and Mi'kmaq peoples. Thank you for undertaking this important study. I'm vice-president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents 72,000 researchers, teachers, librarians and general staff at universities, colleges and polytechnics across the country.

Finance committee  Do you mean silos between different associations? We would work with the Atlantic association, certainly. I am a member of a faculty association here, and my faculty association is a member of both the Atlantic association and the Canadian Association of University Teachers, so we have....

Finance committee  Right. Well, I think we share priorities. You mentioned housing. Just days before the start of the semester this year, we got a message from our senior administration asking if professors had a room to spare for students. Going back to the basic messages, I think that working with the federal government and with the provinces to try to find a way ahead to stabilize funding for post-secondary education is a really vital part of that.

Finance committee  I hope there are no issues here in the short or long term. We want to ensure that it's not possible for this kind of damaging process to happen again. As I said, the public mission of public post-secondary education is vital to all of us and it's vital to our collective future as a country.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. For the sake of clarity, I'm going to answer in English You probably remember that Laurentian was brought under the CCAA legislation. There was a report or a research study done on that situation after the fact by the Auditor General of Ontario. Her conclusion was that the legislation is inappropriate for public post-secondary education institutions, that it was unnecessary and that other alternatives that would have led to a much more favourable outcome for the institution, students, faculty, other employees and the community would have been possible.

Finance committee  Thank you for that question. I think you're right. We're talking about the foundation there. It's interesting to me that so many of the other speakers identified the need for research and science. That can't happen unless people are trained and educated in public post-secondary education.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to welcome the members of the finance committee to St. John's on the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador, which I acknowledge as the unceded homeland of the Beothuk and Mi'kmaq peoples. Welcome to Newfoundland and Labrador. I am vice-president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, CAUT, which represents over 72,000 teachers, researchers, librarians and general staff at universities, colleges and polytechnics across the country.

Science and Research committee  In addition to the collection of data and proof, which has already been mentioned, I mention again a strengthened federal contractors program. That would bring more universities and colleges under federal legislation. In 2013, we saw the threshold to be brought into the federal contractors program increase substantially.

Science and Research committee  No, I don't think we have to wait. I think there are things we can do. I think you're right: What we need to do is address the systemic issues that take it out of the hands of individual negotiations, the merit pay, the market differentials.... Collective bargaining has been one important mechanism for doing that.

Science and Research committee  I guess I could start on that. I will say, just on the previous question, that I think that's another place where unions do have a very important role to play in negotiating parental leave benefits. However, your question was about the provision of child care. While I think that institutions and faculty associations or faculty unions have a vital role to play in lobbying for those at the institutional level, I think that we've seen how important it is that governments play their roles in ensuring, at a systemic level, that child care is available.

Science and Research committee  Thanks. That's a really important question. Yes, from what we can see, there is a greater tendency for both women and other equity-deserving groups to be located in the part-time or contract academic field. I think this is something that's crucial for us to address. You said there is more equity, but it would be within that group.