Recent OECD figures reveal that Canada leads in cutting post-secondary education funding.

Canada has the dubious distinction of leading the industrialized world in cutting funding for post-secondary education.

Recently released figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show that between 1991 and 1997, public funding for post-secondary education in Canada declined by 1 per cent of GDP. That compares with an average funding among OECD nations cut of only 0.1 per cent.

CAUT president Tom Booth said the OECD figures underline the severity of cutbacks in Canada. He called on Ottawa and the provinces to take advantage of their improving financial health to immediately boost funding for Canada's universities and colleges. "With governments facing bulging surpluses, we now have the resources to build the best post-secondary education system in the world," he said. "But we have to convince our governments to make that investment and not to squander the surplus on tax cuts. Cutting taxes at the expense of education and other programs will in the end make us all poorer."

Booth warned that Canada cannot afford to fall further behind other countries in public funding for post-secondary education.

"Investing now is both an economic and social imperative," he added.