Canada Games Pool Subsidy Withdrawn Brandon Ferguson, News Editor As of October 15, the Douglas Students Union (DSU) has cancelled its business relationship with the Canada Games Pool, resulting in the termination of students’ $2 discount. The move was decided upon by the last DSU representative committee and was cartied over by the new administration. Although some students are pissed at the lost discount, Canada Games failed to ever mention that it was not a discount, but rather a reim- bursement for an already paid subsidy. “The DSU has been fielding a number of student complaints, and understandably so,’ DSU Treasurer, and part-time bouncer Ryan Lam said. “But this financial burden is simply unsustainable.” Every semester, the DSU forks over $20,000 to Canada Games Pool, who then cuts the Coquitlam City Aquatics Centre (CCAC) in on some of the fat coin in order to offer the same discount. Under the 12-year-old agreement, Canada Games was to pro- mote the deal as an entitled rebate for Douglas College students. According to Lam, “it is being offered as a dis- count by Canada Games Pool when, in fact, this is merely a return on a sub- sidy already paid by the DSU.” “In order to ensure that students do get a discount, we have approached both Canada Games and the CCAC through our Student Saver program,” Lam said, referring to the Canadian Federation of Students-run program. The Student Saver is a collection of discounts that local companies offer solely as good-will gestures to the struggling student. For more information, go chat with the kids in the DSU. For a more personal protest, feel free to leave a lit- tle yellow spirit behind the next time you take a dip at the Canada Games Pool. Critics Say Not Enough Attention Paid to Post- Secondary in Liberal Agenda Megan Thomas, CUP Ottawa Bureau Chief OTTAWA (CUP)—It’s not what was said about post-secondary education in Prime Minister Paul Martin’s throne speech that has ignited criticism—it’s what wasn’t said. Governor General Adrienne Clarkson delivered the traditional address on behalf of Martin on Oct. 5 in the Senate cham- ber. The speech opened a new session for the House of Commons and sketched out an agenda for the Liberal minority gov- ernment. But education and opposition party leaders say the speech lacked proposals to bolster a post-secondary education system plagued by student debt and rising tuition fees. “They made virtually no mention of post-secondary education,’ said James Kusie, national director of the Canadian Alliance of Student “Students are one sentence away from being irrelevant.” “It is completely the wrong message to be sending,” Kusie added. One paragraph of Martin’s speech was dedicated to post-secondary education. It explained the Liberals’ plan to implement the Canada Learning Bond—a strategy Martin first announced last March—to ease the financial burden of going to uni- versity. This “innovative savings vehicle” Associations. is aimed at helping low-income families save for their children’s higher education. New Democrat Leader Jack Layton was critical of the learning bond, saying it will help students about 20 years from now, but does little to address the finan- cial crunch currently facing university students. “There was no recognition of student debt. The government has taken debt off the books of the whole country and put it on the shoulders of students. How is that a good idea?” Layton said, standing out- side the door to the House of Commons. “We certainly would’ve liked to have seen some mention of student tuition and student debt as an issue in Canadian soci- ety, because I can tell you it is for an awful lot of families,” Layton added. Peter MacKay, deputy leader of the Conservatives, agreed the learning bond is an inadequate solution, adding he sees education as the “next looming crisis” in Canada. He said the throne speech was vague on education and did not address the real concerns of students, like debt and taxation on scholarships. “This was an opportunity missed in my opinion,’ MacKay said. “The short answer to if there is anything in this doc- ument for students, quite frankly, is no.” MacKay said he would like to see a national roundtable bring together gov- ernment and student leaders to discuss the details of what students want fixed in post-secondary education. What was imparted in Martin’s speech does little to put post-secondary educa- tion on the national agenda, said David Robinson, associate executive director for the Canadian Association of University Teachers. “What’s surprising is that there is not anything new here,” he said, adding Martin should have taken a bolder stance and brought forward new ideas to address issues like rising fees that hinder access to universities. “Post-secondary education should clearly be a national priority,’ Robinson said. The speech also didn’t fulfill promises made to students during the Liberals’ summer election campaign, said George Soule, national chair of the Canadian Federation of Students. Paul Martin Soule said Martin promised in his campaign to create a transfer payment of federal money to the provinces that would be used strictly for post-secondary educa- tion. “He made that commitment to stu- dents. We just hope that wasn’t a commitment he made just to get young people to vote for the Liberals,’ Soule said. But just because plans to revitalize education weren’t in the throne speech, doesn’t mean they won’t happen, Soule added. “It just means that we need to remind [Martin] a little more.” The opposition parties now must decide whether to propose amendments to Martin’s agenda. Then, later in October, all members of Parliament will vote on whether to pass the agenda. Because Martin leads a minority govern- ment, a vote against his throne speech would lead to a new election. OGuoner = 13/2000