OTTAWA -- Of course, it was all about money. Canada's premiers don't get together to moan about something and then conclude that the federal government is doing its share.

And so when the bulk of the country's provincial leaders trooped over to 24 Sussex Dr. last night for a hastily arranged dinner with Stephen Harper, they were looking for him to write a $2.2-billion cheque for the postsecondary education system.

As he was heading out the door, Manitoba Premier Gary Doer noted that the provinces spend more than $1-billion on colleges, universities and training schemes and “what we want is a partnership.”

That was the easy part to focus on during the “summit” yesterday, organized by the premiers to draw attention to the need for improvements to Canada’s creaky, under‑performing higher education system.

As Quebec’s Jean Charest noted rather bitterly, gatherings like this are always caricatured as fed-bashing festivals.  It was different this time, he said, because the issue of postsecondary education “is so critical to the future of our country.”

Few would argue with that, but the challenge Mr. Charest and his colleagues face is in actually proving that a few billions more from Ottawa would leave Canada in good shape to compete with all those international overachievers.

It was an article of faith among the 450 politicians, educators, students and business people at the gathering that 80 per cent of the new jobs created in the next decade will require some sort of postsecondary training.

David Lindsay, president of the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario, noted, for example, that the work force at Inco Ltd. In Sudbury is one-sixth what it was in the 1980s, and that today’s workers are doing more with less because they are technologically adept.

At the same time, no one argued with the finding that only 45 per cent of Canadians have any postsecondary training and that the gap between expectation and reality is an awful thing.  But that’s about where certainty ended.

There was a lot of stirring talk about innovation, competitiveness and learning partnerships.  It was hard to pinpoint exactly where the eyes glazed over, but it was somewhere between the mentions of a “pan-Canadian human resource strategy,” and an integrated strategy for “a culture of lifelong learning.”  Translating that fervour into concrete results will be tougher to master.

The proponents of an improved postsecondary system – and who among us isn’t in that number? – want some of the attention that has been paid in recent years to health care.  Pouring money into health is simply consuming current resources: with education, the hope is that increased knowledge will lead to an expanding, more prosperous economy.

But what will work in sharpening up Canada’s postsecondary system?  Hard to say.  The fact is that knowledge in the area is way, way behind the health field.  Any number of organizations study waiting times. Hospital procedures are poked and prodded for maximum efficiency.

Your average university, by contrast, is as mysterious and unaccountable as a medieval royal court.  Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty laughed in an interview when he recounted an anecdote about governments lugging wheelbarrows of money to a university and being told to get lost before the drawbridge is let down and the money is spirited inside.

There are no measurements of quality that are comparable to the indexes used in health.  Ontario Colleges and Universities Minister Chris Bentley admitted: “We have only started the conversation as a society on what quality means in higher education – how to set markers and how to move them.”

Mr. Bentley argues, for example, that the tuition fee hike he will announce soon (rumoured to be about 6 per cent) will increase the quality of education being offered at colleges and universities.  Student leaders say it will act as a barrier to accessibility.  Who’s right?

Mr. McGuinty agrees that the framing of the postsecondary education debate and the introduction of accountability to institutions is just starting.

If yesterday’s gathering, as full as it was of soaring blather, pushes this along, it will have been worth every eye-glazing moment.

Canada's premiers want billions more in funding from Prime Minister Stephen Harper in order to drag the nation's post-secondary education system into the 21st century.

Seven of the provincial leaders gathered in Ottawa yesterday for a daylong summit to determine how to better fund colleges, universities and skills training. They called on Ottawa to restore the $2.2 billion it cut from higher learning 10 years ago, and create a cash pipeline to the provinces dedicated solely for post-secondary education.

The meeting, called Competing for Tomorrow, marked the first time premiers from across the country have met with so many post-secondary players, including students, professors, executives and college and university presidents.

"It's been a tremendous day and there's every reason to be optimistic," said Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who co-chaired the event with Quebec Premier Jean Charest.

Ontario would land about $700 million more for colleges and universities if Ottawa agreed to the $2.2 billion, say educators.

"We're enthralled at the chance to get this much more funding — especially in Ontario, where community colleges get the smallest per-student grants in the country," said Rick Miner, president of Seneca College and president of the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario.

But McGuinty said an added $2.2 billion is only the beginning. It marks a return to the 1995 standard, but Canadians will have to do a lot more to compete in today's knowledge-based global economy.

"India and China are not focused on the 1995 standard. Neither are Brazil and Russia," the premier said. "In Ontario we don't have oil and gas, so it's all about developing our human capital.

"We just have to decide for ourselves whether we want to play in the big leagues or whether we want to stay in the minor leagues," he said.

Student leaders say when $2.2 billion is put into today's dollars, it reaches about $4.9 billion.

Many educators seemed buoyed to have higher learning grab the country's attention.

"It's nice to see the national spotlight on post-secondary education for a change and have premiers see the passion and energy it generates in the room," said Ryerson's Professor Michael Doucet, president of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

But colleges and universities "aren't just going hat in hand to ask Ottawa for more money — we know we have to develop a national strategy about standards and priorities first," said Scott Courtice, executive director of the Ontario Undergraduate Students' Association.

"We agreed we have to get past the squabbling over which jurisdiction is responsible for higher education and realize we all have to pull in the same direction," he said.

Many were impressed that premiers sat in on discussions about funding, the quality of education and research, and took notes that were reflected in their final remarks.

"I was surprisingly pleased how productive the meeting was," said Bonnie Patterson, president of Trent University and chair of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. "There was a real sense of urgency we seem to share from coast to coast; a recognition that we need more investment in post-secondary education."

Charest said the timing of the summit, coming on the eve of last night's historic first premiers' dinner with Harper at 24 Sussex Dr., was perfect.

"We're going to be breaking bread with the Prime Minister of Canada," the Quebec premier told the educators, students, union and business leaders, and politicians at the summit.

"This will be his first instalment on the fiscal imbalance. And the second instalment — we will offer him a few suggestions on how we can accomplish that. Thank you, merci," Charest joked.

McGuinty later stressed that the premiers were not going to "put forward ... a formal demand" to Harper, but would make the Prime Minister aware of where they are coming from.

New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord warned that Canadians are kidding themselves if they think the status quo is an option. "We need to realize that in the next decade and beyond 80 per cent of all new jobs created in this country will require some post-secondary training (or) education," he said.

With files from Les Whittington