Ontario Hansard - 01-November2004

Ms Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Victoria-Brock): I am proud to stand before you today to recognize College Week 2004. I am one of the more than one million graduates to have benefited from a college education. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Honourable Bill Davis, the former Premier of the province of Ontario, the founding father of the college system in Ontario.

Ontario has 21 colleges of applied arts and technology and three institutes of technology and advanced learning. They serve 155,000 full-time students and 350,000 part-time students. This year, during College Week, the colleges are celebrating the success of their graduates.

We should be celebrating with them. Colleges employ approximately 30,000 people, and their presence is felt in 200 communities across the province. Our colleges provide high-quality, innovative courses that help to educate the highly skilled workforce that is essential to the future prosperity of this province.

Colleges offer a broad array of certificates and diploma programs in addition to applied degree programs. Ontario college graduates are health care professionals, designers, builders, technologists, journalists, CEOs and even MPPs.

We are also involved in hundreds of other kinds of careers. College graduates are on the front lines and behind the scenes, making our world work every day. We need to recognize the important work that they do in helping us to build Ontario's economy.

Today, the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technologies is hosting a reception here at Queen's Park. I hope that many of you will take the opportunity to learn more about our colleges and the important role they play in providing real careers for real life.