Students from Punjab who go to study in Canada spend about Rs 68,000 crore in that country, nearly $8 billion, annually. That’s a recent estimate by Sikh Vox, a website on the Sikh diaspora. The estimate is based on the number of students studying in Canada and the average college fees plus living expenditure, etc. According to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), a total of 226,450 visas were approved for Indian students in 2022. Of these, a significant portion, approximately 1.36 lakh students, hailed from Punjab, pursuing various courses with an average duration of two-to-three years, says the report by Sikh Vox. Current estimates from student visa processing agencies suggest that around 3.4 lakh Punjabi students are currently enrolled in various educational institutions across Canada.
But if you include students from other states of India who go to Canada for post-secondary education, the number could be near $20 billion. Such a huge amount of money pouring in every year from India underlines the importance of Canada-India ties. Rising consumer demand in India not only boosts the Indian economy but is now contributing to foreign economies too.
How Indians fund Canadian education system
College fees constitute a significant part of the total annual expenditure of Indian students in Canada, and the Indian money going into the education sector in Canada has made headlines in recent times. Indian students have even left behind the government in Canada in funding of the public education system. International students from India have outpaced the government of Ontario, a province in Canada, in funding public colleges, a recent report has highlighted.
Given that tuition fee for international students is something like three times what it is for domestic students (exact data is difficult to pin down because Statistics Canada chooses not to track tuition fees at the college level), that means that something like 76% of all tuition fees in the sector come from international students, says a recent report published by Higher Education Strategy Associates, a Toronto-based consulting firm that provides research, analysis and strategic advice related to higher education.
As the above graph shows, since a majority of these international students come from India, it turns out that Indian students not only contribute twice the amount of money to the college system, on aggregate, that Canadian students do, they also contribute slightly more than does the Government of Ontario.
These numbers could be shocking for many in Canada, the report says. “Numbers like these tend to induce shock. How can it possibly be that Indian students are paying more into the system than Queen’s Park [the seat of the Assembly of Ontario]? The answer is simply this: Ontario institutions, faced with deep cuts in income, have acted precisely the way the government asked them to — that is, by acting entrepreneurially and securing new forms of revenue. This isn’t a mistake: this is exactly what the Ontario government requires.”
In short, the Ontario government doesn’t have sufficient money to fund its educational institutions and it wants them to earn more from International students, and in the above example, the students from India.
1.6 lakh Indians who gave up citizenship between 2018 and 2023 opted for Canada; second to the US
Indian students not only contribute slightly more than does the Government of Ontario but they also contribute twice the amount of money to the college system, on aggregate, that Canadian students do, said the report.
A government analysis from March 2022, which mapped the period when Covid had disrupted International students’ enrolment in Canadian colleges, showed that International students contribute over $22.3 billion per year to the Canadian economy – greater than exports of auto parts, lumber or aircraft.
Why do Canadian colleges need more international students?
Since about 2000, the number of international students at the post-secondary level in Canada has risen dramatically, from just under 40,000 in the late 1990s to almost 420,000 in 2020-21, says the report by Higher Education Strategy Associates. This rise was gradual at first, then very rapid from 2009 onwards.
The report cites several reasons for this growth: international students bring diversity to classrooms across the country and (marginally) because their presence burnishes institutions’ standings in world rankings, which regard the presence of international students as an indicator of quality. However, the main reason is that international students pay much higher tuition fees than domestic students and are thus seen as a way to offset stagnant government funding. In 2021-22, international students made up 17.6% of all university enrolments and 22% of all college enrolments. Growth has been most rapid in Ontario’s college sector, where international student numbers roughly doubled between 2016-17 and 2019-20.
At the university level, international students are a bigger part of the student body in the Atlantic provinces than they are elsewhere; at the college level, it is the reverse, with international enrolments lower in the five eastern provinces but hugely important west of there, especially in Ontario, which accounts for about 70% of all international college students in Canada.
Rising consumer demand in India fuels rush to Canada
Better career opportunities and permanent residency that follows foreign education, especially in Canada, attract Indian students. But the recent rise in numbers of such students can be attributed to rising consumer demand and higher incomes in India as well as more awareness about foreign destinations due to social media.
Indian students opting for higher education abroad are rapidly increasing and their growth outpaced domestic student growth by more than six times in the previous three years to reach around 7,70,000, said a report by consulting firm RedSeer in 2019. The report estimated that the number was expected to grow to 1.8 million by 2024. Covid had disrupted the trend but it’s now coming back on track.
The significant increase in outflow of students over the recent years is driven by better educational quality and outcomes abroad; higher standards of living ; gaps in the Indian education system leading to supply-demand imbalance and upward income mobility of Indian households, said the report.
There has been a massive increase in incomes in India over the past two decades that has translated into growing spends on post-secondary education. Additionally, people are becoming more aware of the benefits of studying abroad and Indians have a rising diaspora in popular destination countries which is leading to more applications abroad and student outflows.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VICTORIA – British Columbia is forecasting a record budget deficit and a rising debt of almost $129 billion less than two weeks before the start of a provincial election campaign where economic stability and future progress are expected to be major issues.
Finance Minister Katrine Conroy, who has announced her retirement and will not seek re-election in the Oct. 19 vote, said Tuesday her final budget update as minister predicts a deficit of $8.9 billion, up $1.1 billion from a forecast she made earlier this year.
Conroy said she acknowledges “challenges” facing B.C., including three consecutive deficit budgets, but expected improved economic growth where the province will start to “turn a corner.”
The $8.9 billion deficit forecast for 2024-2025 is followed by annual deficit projections of $6.7 billion and $6.1 billion in 2026-2027, Conroy said at a news conference outlining the government’s first quarterly financial update.
Conroy said lower corporate income tax and natural resource revenues and the increased cost of fighting wildfires have had some of the largest impacts on the budget.
“I want to acknowledge the economic uncertainties,” she said. “While global inflation is showing signs of easing and we’ve seen cuts to the Bank of Canada interest rates, we know that the challenges are not over.”
Conroy said wildfire response costs are expected to total $886 million this year, more than $650 million higher than originally forecast.
Corporate income tax revenue is forecast to be $638 million lower as a result of federal government updates and natural resource revenues are down $299 million due to lower prices for natural gas, lumber and electricity, she said.
Debt-servicing costs are also forecast to be $344 million higher due to the larger debt balance, the current interest rate and accelerated borrowing to ensure services and capital projects are maintained through the province’s election period, said Conroy.
B.C.’s economic growth is expected to strengthen over the next three years, but the timing of a return to a balanced budget will fall to another minister, said Conroy, who was addressing what likely would be her last news conference as Minister of Finance.
The election is expected to be called on Sept. 21, with the vote set for Oct. 19.
“While we are a strong province, people are facing challenges,” she said. “We have never shied away from taking those challenges head on, because we want to keep British Columbians secure and help them build good lives now and for the long term. With the investments we’re making and the actions we’re taking to support people and build a stronger economy, we’ve started to turn a corner.”
Premier David Eby said before the fiscal forecast was released Tuesday that the New Democrat government remains committed to providing services and supports for people in British Columbia and cuts are not on his agenda.
Eby said people have been hurt by high interest costs and the province is facing budget pressures connected to low resource prices, high wildfire costs and struggling global economies.
The premier said that now is not the time to reduce supports and services for people.
Last month’s year-end report for the 2023-2024 budget saw the province post a budget deficit of $5.035 billion, down from the previous forecast of $5.9 billion.
Eby said he expects government financial priorities to become a major issue during the upcoming election, with the NDP pledging to continue to fund services and the B.C. Conservatives looking to make cuts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the debt would be going up to more than $129 billion. In fact, it will be almost $129 billion.
NANAIMO, B.C. – Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says he’ll be advising the Liberal party to flip some the challenges posed by an increasingly divided and dangerous world into an economic opportunity for Canada.
But he won’t say what his specific advice will be on economic issues that are politically divisive in Canada, like the carbon tax.
He presented his vision for the Liberals’ economic policy at the party’s caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C. today, after he agreed to help the party prepare for the next election as chair of a Liberal task force on economic growth.
Carney has been touted as a possible leadership contender to replace Justin Trudeau, who has said he has tried to coax Carney into politics for years.
Carney says if the prime minister asks him to do something he will do it to the best of his ability, but won’t elaborate on whether the new adviser role could lead to him adding his name to a ballot in the next election.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says she has been taking advice from Carney for years, and that his new position won’t infringe on her role.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
