by KARIN DEAR

BARBADIAN AND NEIGHBOURING CARIBBEAN YOUTH will be getting a $10 million education leg-up from the Canadian government.

In an exclusive interview with the DAILY NATION, recently appointed Canadian High Commissioner David Marshall said his government had "restarted" a Canada-Caribbean scholarship programme which involves a ten-year commitment to provide scholarships.

"We are putting $10 million into it to provide scholarships for young Caribbean intellectuals who are developing, but we are structuring it so there is a greater chance that they will stay in the Caribbean instead of us contributing to a brain drain," said Canada's former assistant auditor-general.

"We're stretching the scholarship so half the money is for study within the Caribbean region and half in Canada," noted the foreign diplomat who assumed his post as High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean on October 1 of this year.

"I'm very enthusiastic about what we're doing," he said, adding that his government had also earmarked an additional $20 million "for the Caribbean Institutional Leadership development programme".

"We have also set aside $30 million to invest in youth at risk," Marshall said.

"I think people enjoy themselves when they are accomplishing things," maintained Canada's newest representative, who brings to the region more than 30 years of domestic and international experience in information technology and financial services.

"You know, things that look difficult, if you can just take them one step at a time and keep your head screwed on straight, you can do a lot," insisted Marshall who also served from 1996 to 1999 as chief information officer and executive-vice-president of Bankers Trust New York Corporation – a leading New York-based investment bank.