News

Education Will
ection Issue,
Student Groups

be El

    

 
 
  
   

 

2004

June

 

 

Stephen Hui
CUP National Bureau Chief

 

BURNABY, BC (CUP)—If post-sec-
ondary education is not a major elec-
tion issue, it should be, Canada’s lead-
ing student groups say.

The Canadian Federation of
Students and Fédération étudiante
universitaire du Québec, representing
600,000 students across the country,
have joined forces to call for increased
federal funding for postsecondary
education and propose measures to
reduce student debt. They hope the
major political parties will hear their
demands.

“The clock is ticking, of course,”
said Ian Boyko, CFS national chair,
by telephone from Ottawa. “Because
once the parties’ platforms are out, it
makes it infinitely more difficult to
try and change it.”

In a joint policy document released
May 26, the student groups urge the
federal government to increase trans-
fer payments for’ postsecondary edu-
cation to the provinces by $3.6 bil-
lion. They blame Liberal cutbacks
during the 90s for rising tuition fees
in most provinces.

The student groups are also asking
the government to exempt student
grants from income taxes, establish a
system of needs-based grants, rescind
the 10-year bankruptcy prohibition
on student loans, and reject loan
repayment models based on income.
Their demands aren't limited to the
education system though; the docu-
ment also recommends federal funding

for public transit and proportional

6 | OtherPress

representation in Parliament.

“If the Liberals can’t commit to
making real change for postsecondary
education,” Boyko said, “then we're
going to do everything we can to
make sure they find themselves in a
minority government position.”

While the Liberal Party has not
issued its education platform, Hedy
Fry, a member of Parliament from
Vancouver, said the party aims to
increase the proportion of Canadians
with postsecondary education from
39-50 percent over the next decade.
Fry said it is looking at ways to
expand and change the tools available
to help students finance their educa-
tion.

According to Fry, the Liberals want
to expand the federal government's
role in education beyond funding to
have a hand in its administration,
which falls under provincial jurisdic
tion.

“We have to come up with a cost-
sharing venture to allow us to work
with the provinces,” the MP said. “It
may be that if we could do that, we
could help them to bring down
tuition, or at least not raise tuition
anymore.”

Fry hinted Prime Minister Paul
Martin would announce more money
for postsecondary education. She
blamed the lower levels of funding in
the 90s on the Brian Mulroney gov-
ernment.

“T think it’s a bum rap to say that
we cut,” she said.

A representative for the Conservative
Party said that until its platform is
made public, the party isn’t prepared

to comment on specific issues.

The New Democratic Party's plat-
form advocates lowering tuition fees
by 10 percent, as well as upping fed-
eral funding to support a nation-wide
tuition freeze. It calls for more fund-
ing for research to stop the privatisa-
tion of research on campus. The
NDP wants to replace the
Millennium Scholarship Fund with
needs-based grants, and supports
crediting interest accumulated on stu-
dent loans against graduates’ income
taxes.

One key issue in postsecondary
education, according to Fédération
étudiante universitaire du Québec
spokesperson Nick Vikander, is the
plight of international students.
Although international students typi-
cally pay higher tuition fees than their
domestic counterparts, they aren't
allowed to work off-campus in most
provinces.

“It’s a really difficult situation for
them,” Vikander said from Montréal.
“We're asking the federal government,
at least as a first step, to allow them to
work part-time to help them meet
some of their needs.”

The Bloc Québécois takes up this
cause in their platform. The party also
demands the federal government
increase its transfer payments for edu-
cation to Québec.

Christophe Fortier-Guay, spokesperson
for the Bloc’s youth wing, said the party
is concerned about federal interest in
playing a greater role in education.

“It is starving the provinces by not
giving the money that they need in
education,” he said from Montréal.

“What happens next is—when they
have financial problems like we have
now—they come with a cheque. But
this cheque comes with conditions,
national Canadian priorities.”

A Liberal or Conservative minority
government, Fortier-Guay _ said,
might help the Bloc achieve some of
its aims in Parliament.

While the Green Party platform
states it wants to reduce the “up-front
cost” of tuition fees, the party’s
Halifax candidate said their ultimate
goal is to make postsecondary educa-
tion free.

“We'd like to move to it as quickly

as possible,” said Michael Oddy, the
Greens’ education critic. “Because we
see it as in the public interest to have
a well-funded, publicly accessible
education system from early child-
hood through to university gradua-
tion.”
Charles Ungerleider, sociology of
education professor at the University
of British Columbia, called the
affordability of postsecondary educa-
tion a crucial issue for students—one
he expects the major parties to
address with commitments that are
more specific as the campaign rolls
on.
“That shouldn't be the dividing line
in Canada,” the professor said from a
Richmond shopping mall. “We're too
rich a nation to allow the ability to
pay to be the distinguishing feature
between those who go and those who
don't.”

Voters head to the polls June’ 28.

Illustration by J.J. McCullough