Tim Hudak vs 24,000 Ontario Jobs.

NOTE TO READERS...The blog posting below was taken  from a blog posting on the Ontario Liberal Party's website. Having done my own research the facts contained below seem to be correct.

Tim Hudak claims to stand for Ontario families.  So I was genuinely surprised to read in the media last week that Tim Hudak and the Conservatives have taken a stance against international graduate scholarships that goes against every economic measure of success for Ontario.
Forget about the fact that the Ontario Trillium Scholarships attract top international talent to Ontario schools for research, which will help to ensure that Ontario will strengthen business ties with key markets around the world and create long-lasting and immeasurable future economic advantages.
And forget that these 75 grants – compared to 143,000 grants available for Ontario students – will serve as incentive for many international students that end up remaining in Ontario permanently upon completion of their studies, contributing to our economy for years to come.
The most stunning part of it all is that Tim Hudak has chosen to blatantly ignore the facts about immediate economic prosperity for Ontario.
Simply, international students’ contribution to the economy creates jobs for Ontarians.  Over 24,000 jobs were created in Ontario in 2008 due to the economic impact of international students studying in Ontario. International students contributed more than $6.5 billion to the Canadian economy in 2008, adding over $1.5 billion to the Ontario GDP alone according to a 2009 study by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade – the first such study to measure the economic impact of international students on Canada’s economy.
Tim Hudak claims to stand for Ontario’s own students first.  But if that’s the case, it is tough to understand why he, as part of the Mike Harris government in Ontario, cut student assistance by more than half during their mandate.  The Hudak-Harris  government was responsible for deregulating Ontario tuition and allowing it to skyrocket by 67%, while cutting per-student funding by 41%.
Tim Hudak should know better than to mock international graduate scholarships.  After all, he went on full-scholarship to a university in the United States for his own graduate studies.  Shame that he doesn’t want to allow students from China to have the same benefits he had.
Christine