CREDIT: MELISSA NOVACASKA
Minister of Health, the Honourable Jane Philpott came to Fanshawe on March 27 to speak about the positive impacts the 2017 budget will have on Canadians and those attending or wanting to attend post-secondary institutions.

The Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health paid a visit to Fanshawe on March 27, to discuss the ways in which the 2017 budget will help Canadians be able to at­tend school and have the necessary skills needed to find a good job in the middle class section.

The visit, which was on behalf of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minis­ter of Employment, Workforce De­velopment and Labour, was a way in which Philpott could explain the benefits of this year's budget and address any concerns there might be or how the budget would in fact be a benefit to students, specifically those in the middle class sector.

Fanshawe's president Peter Devlin, Mayor Matt Brown, MP for London North Centre Peter Frag­iskatos and MP for London West Kate Young were all in attendance to welcome the minister.

According to a March 27 govern­ment of Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada press release, the focus of the visit was to also ensure that as the econ­omy and jobs change and the skills and training needed for these po­sitions change, the aid certain stu­dents need is given to them.

“A strong economy starts with a strong middle-class. When middle class Canadians have more money to save, invest and grow the econo­my, everyone benefits. The govern­ment of Canada's new Innovation and Skills Plan will create opportu­nities for lifelong learning, so that the next job is also a better job,” the press release said.

While on campus, Philpott men­tioned Fanshawe and London have a strong role in the skills and train­ing component of the budget and it's “constantly changing and adapt­ing with the times”.

According to the press release, to help make post-secondary more affordable, especially for adult learners and those who maybe have taken a year or so off from school­ing, the government is looking to expand the eligibility for Canada student grants for those students who are going to school part-time, or who have children.

This will allow roughly 23,000 students to be eligible for these grants and loans each year, with women being a key focus group the government hopes it can help.

“We will not be able to see our Canadian economy grow, thrive and continue to advance as it needs to without making sure that the work of colleges like Fanshawe are strengthened and supported,” Phil­pott said while on campus. “Train­ing institutions like Fanshawe are very simply a driver of our econo­my.”

According to the press release, the government will also help those who are unemployed adults and will make the use of unemployment in­surance (EI) more flexible, which will help those individuals still ap­ply to school without fear of losing any benefits from EI.

With that said, the federal gov­ernment is looking to increase sup­port across the country with $2.7 billion over six years to help those unemployed get the training and skills they need to keep a stable job.

On top of that, a new organiza­tion and skills and development measures will be taken so there will be more training towards Canadi­ans, focusing more so on underrep­resented groups such as youth, the indigenous community and women.

While at Fanshawe, Philpott men­tioned the importance of lifelong learning, and being able to adapt to the changing times and workforce.

“The budget 2017, as was de­scribed earlier, [is the] constant evo­lution of our delivery of our man­date to make sure that we continue to grow the middle class and those who are working so hard to join it,” Philpott said. “We want to make sure that every Canadian has ac­cess to the opportunities they need whatever stage in their career that they're at in order to succeed both today and well into the future.”

Philpott noted that one of the gov­ernment's best partners to help Ca­nadians prepare for the ever chang­ing job market is post-secondary institutions, which is why Fanshawe was chosen to address the new bud­get information of grants and loans, skills and training developments.

“Fanshawe is one of the ones that's always on top of the list in terms of being a place that is cre­ative, innovative, constantly adapt­ing, growing and recognizing the needs for the future,” Philpott said.

According to Philpott, though there is money flowing directly across Canada as we speak to help students, changes will continue into the future.

Fragiskatos said he thought the event was a great opportunity for the government to share their vision and show their support for more than just the basic “law and order” aspects of government.

“Skills and training factor in a major way here because when we talk about skills and training ulti­mately we're talking about people. We're talking about making sure that individuals have the opportuni­ties that they need to access to suc­ceed,” Fragiskatos said.

President Devlin was also pleased with how the morning went and thought Fanshawe was a great place for the event to happen since the college focuses on what the minister spoke about, including skills devel­opment, training, workforce devel­opment, apprenticeship and more to “unlock potential” for students.

“I was very, very pleased. It's al­ways neat to be able to host several levels of government and to have them talk about the importance of being innovative, creative, sup­porting learning, life long learning and if you're at Fanshawe College we do all those things amazingly,” Devlin said.