The Millennium Scholarship Endowment Fund

In his Address in Reply to the Speech From the Throne, the Prime Minister announced the government's intention to establish a Canada Millennium Scholarship Endowment Fund - as one of our major millennium commitments.

Its purpose will be to help young Canadians prepare for the knowledge-based society of the next century.

The income from the fund will reward academic excellence and will provide thousands of scholarships each year, beginning in the year 2000, for low and moderate-income Canadians to help them attend universities and colleges. The Fund will operate at arms-length from government.

This is the kind of forward-looking initiative that will leave a true, lasting and living legacy of our commitment to the future of Canada.

It is our hope that the Millennium Scholarship Endowment Fund will do for young Canadians and Canada what our historic investment after World War II in post- secondary education for our returning soldiers did to lay the foundation for the prosperity we have enjoyed as nation for the past 50 years.

The Fund will help address two key priority areas set out in the Throne Speech: investing in the knowledge and creativity of Canadians, and giving young Canadians a chance to thrive in the new economy by ensuring that post-secondary education is accessible and affordable.

No fair-minded person could construe this Fund as constituting interference in the provincial jurisdiction of education. Indeed, it will only complement the provinces' efforts to provide accessible, affordable education to their citizens. The details of the Fund will be worked out in the weeks ahead with appropriate partners.

As outlined in the Speech From the Throne, our government is committed to working in partnership with the provinces and territories, to strengthen and modernize the Canadian federation.

The Millennium Scholarship Endowment Fund is a fine example of that cooperative spirit.