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March 24, 2008

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Dion on post-secondary education

A candid look at what the Liberal Party has in store for students
By Joe Paling

 

V \ ith the Conservative Party remaining stagnant in the polls and those in the
know predicting a federal election within the next few months, Stéphane Dion could
very well be poised to be the next prime minister of Canada. The unlikely leader
already beat all expectations in December 2006 when he defied the pundits and
won the Liberal leadership over more celebrated contenders Bob Rae and Michael
Ignatieff. Dion was the only francophone in the leadership race, and his election
maintained a longstanding historical pattern (albeit accidental) of the Liberal Party
meandering between Anglophone and Francophone leaders. I had the opportunity
to meet with Mr. Dion earlier this year during his most recent tour of the Lower
Mainland.

Dion, personally, is a contradiction between friendly confidence and aloofness.
He is a man fantastic at introductions and dialogue and possesses an encyclopedic
knowledge of the issues, yet he also ends conversations abruptly and seems more
at home in the world of intellectual thought than the leader’s spotlight. He ends
his meetings with a one-word “bye” and offers no additional
pleasantries. Perhaps it’s because unlike most politicians Dion
comes from the halls of academia, rather than the halls of the
courthouse.

“T’ll be the first Prime Minister with a PhD,” notes Dion.
On his academic background, he points out, “My PhD is in
sociology, but I taught political science for over 15 years.” In
his latest autobiography, Jean Chrétien expressed support for
Dion despite his experience as a professor.

“Well I will not say what I think of lawyers,” Dion jokes when asked about this
backhanded endorsement. Yet despite this aloofness he is still a likeable politician,
sincere and steadfast in his beliefs. The most telling example, of course, is how he
authored the Clarity Act, an anti-separatist piece of legislation that remains much
hated in his own province. A former separatist himself, the Liberal leader purports to
have been converted to the cause of Federalism by a rum and Coke-fueled exchange
with a federalist family that occurred when he was canvassing for the separatist
cause. Unlike Stephen Harper, Dion is no teetotaler.

With an election on the horizon, the Dion Liberals appear to be working diligently
to distance themselves from the governing Conservatives, and unlike his moderate
predecessor, Dion is firmly to the left on many issues. He has taken an affirmative
stance on poverty, brought global warming to the forefront of party policy (even
achieving the endorsement of Green Party leader Elizabeth May), and pledged to
change the combat nature of the Afghanistan peacekeeping mission to a mission of
reconstruction. This modern Liberal policy is truncated as official party sloganeering
with the simple promise of a “Greener, Fairer and Richer Canada.”

Such leftist rhetoric has been the norm of Liberals for many years, yet a
common criticism of the Liberal Party is that it “campaigns from the left but governs
from the right.” During the 1990s, for example, the Liberal Party made such deep
cuts to all manner of government programs that Brian Mulroney now claims the
Liberal Government of the 1990s was simply completing unfinished Tory policy.
The first question I asked Dion was how the Dion Liberals differ from the Chretien
and Martin Liberals.

12

“At the next election
we'll have a significant
package for universities
and students”

“T’m proud to have been a minister under Mr. Chretien and Mr. Martin, I learned
a lot, but I am Stéphane Dion. So, a different leader, different team, different time,”
he replies. “In [1993 there was a] deficit of 42 Billion, an economy that was stagnant.
In 2008, we have a very Conservative government but the economy is still strong,
[and] we have new challenges. We have a shortage of workers, we have an aging
population—your generation is in danger of having to pay the pensions of all these
baby-boomers, without preparation. We have challenges regarding the environment,
which is the issue at the centre.”

Despite this apparent dichotomy, 2008 is a lot different from the early 1993.
Federal Governments, with growing surpluses can now afford to spend. In the
early 90s, by contrast, (according to Jean Chrétien) there was real fear that Canada
would need to seek financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund, as
Great Britain did in the late 1970s. Politically, however, it’s hard to understand the
Liberals’ renewed interest in spending increases during a time of economic plenty.
Canada is in economic boom, after all, not a recession, and the public’s demands for
greater economic assistance from the government are not particularly loud. Perhaps
Dion’s advisors see more opportunity to steal seats from the leftist Bloc and the NDP
than from the Conservatives, who have a larger degree of “safe seats” than either.
Regardless, more social spending is a potential good for college and university
students facing substantial debt, rising fees and provincial funding cuts.

“At the next election we’ll have a significant package for universities and
students,” declares Dion. “To succeed, we need to be sure that not only the upper
middle class will be able to afford colleges and universities in this country. We need
to assure affordability, accessibility and quality. We need to have top class universities
in order to stay competitive in the world.”

“The sustainable economy is also above all the knowledge economy. We’ |] have
strong initiatives for the next election despite the mistakes that Mr. Harper did. One
of his mistakes was that he completely neglected students.” I proceede to ask Dion
about some of his concrete proposals.

“What we’ll do is to help more students and also [put more money into]
research, and we’ll help the provinces and universities.” Yet when I ask Dion about
a recent Liberal Policy proposal that called for fairer tax credits for student loan
payments, his only response is a glib “you'll see it at the next election.”

One of the biggest complaints students have with the Federal Government
on education, especially once they finish their education,
is the student loan system. Local Liberal MP Hedy Fry and
former leadership contender Bob Rae have both expressed
their support for a Vancouver based initiative seeking to
create a better-student loan system. The group is called
the Coalition for Student Loan Fairness (CSLF) and they
have an eight-point plan for reform of the student loan
system, available on the website, studentloanfairness.ca.
Dion would not commit to Liberal support of the plan, but tried to assuage me with
an implicit statement of support.

“Mr. Rae is co-chair of the platform committee. So, he’s writing the platform
and I’m sure he has in mind many of these principles.” If Bob Rae’s endorsement of
the eight-point plan is sincere, it is reasonable to expect these aspects to be included
in the Liberal platform.

Since young people and students benefit the most from the transit tax
credit, the GST cut, and the textbook credit—and these have all been Conservative
initiatives, I ask Dion if a Liberal Government would keep these programs in effect.

“We do not plan to revisit everything the Conservatives have done,” he
assures me. Another tax issue of importance to young Canadians, is the Basic
Exemption (the level of income before one pays income tax). The basic exemption
in Canada is below a poverty wage. I ask Dion if raising the basic exemption would
be a priority.

“At the next election we’ll do what we can do,” Dion stresses. “It would be
for us, something more important that the GST cut.”

Overall, Dion seems committed to post-secondary education as both
a social and economic good. He was willing to call it a “priority” for the Liberal
Party. As noted earlier, the Liberal Party had a very tumultuous record on this in the
mid 1990s, and it’s important for us students to hold the leader accountable to the
promises he has made if he were to become prime minister. With that being said,
I'll be glad to accept any calls on this issue from Mr. Duceppe, Mr. Harper or Mr.
Layton. Gentleman, it’s your time to tell BC students what you plan to do.