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From: rbutterworth@watmath.UUCP
Newsgroups: uw.general,uw.grad.cs,ont.general
Subject: Re: Unfairness with Foreign Students
Message-ID: <4129@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 30-Dec-86 12:33:41 EST
Article-I.D.: watmath.4129
Posted: Tue Dec 30 12:33:41 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 31-Dec-86 01:39:15 EST
References: <8056@watdaisy.UUCP>
Distribution: ont
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
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Xref: watmath uw.general:321 uw.grad.cs:1511 ont.general:301

There is something I've never understood about the differential
fees.

Draw a circle around the country and consider the effects of
various things (i.e. what crosses the circle in either direction.)
McDonalds Restaurants imports some foods, and so exports some
Canadian money; it also exports Canadian money to its US owners.
The net effect is to remove money from Canada and send it to
another country.  Stelco exports steel, and imports very little
except foreign money.  The net effect is a slight loss of Canadian
resources and a large gain in foreign money.  To me, McDonalds is
bad for the country, while Stelco (depending upon how much you
value resources and pollution) is good.

A typical foreign student will easily spend five or ten thousand
dollars of his own country's money a year while staying in Canada.
After four years he will leave the country with nothing but one
small piece of paper.

Now, if I went to the government and told them I had a business
that exported paper at $30,000 a piece, with most of that money
being spent in small local businesses, I'm sure the government
would do all it could in grants and low cost loans to get this
business started.

So, why can't they look at foreign students the same way?
Why not drop the fees entirely and even pay a small allowance
as an incentive to bring foreign money into Canada?  We would
still be economically ahead (not to mention the social benefits
as well as the increased likelihood that the foreign company
that the student eventually ends up with is going to do more
business with Canada).

So what am I missing?