VAUGHAN-WOODBRIDGE: Candidates address tuition fees
YorkRegion.com
Oct. 1, 2015
The Vaughan Citizen has posed a set of questions, covering a wide range of matters to candidates running in the riding of Vaughan-Woodbridge for the Oct. 19 federal election, to help local voters better understand their positions. Responses received from candidates by The Citizen’s publication deadline will be published in the newspaper, and online at yrmg.com over the next few weeks. NDP candidate Adriana Zichy and Green Party candidate Elise Boulanger did not respond by publication deadline.
Q: Ontario students are facing steep tuition fees for post-secondary education. What, if anything, is your party pledging to do to ensure students can earn a degree or diploma without racking up crushing debt? What is the cost of this plan?
Conservative Julian Fantino
My wife and I helped our two children through university, so we know these costs are a challenge for a family’s budget. That’s why I’m proud that our Conservative government has done a tremendous amount in this area. First, as education is the responsibility of the provincial government, we increased the ‘social transfer’ to Ontario by nearly 60 per cent to a record-high of almost $5 billion a year to help students. In addition, we also expanded eligibility for the federal Canada Student Loan and Canada Student Grant, provided hundreds of millions for new graduate scholarships, invested in a major Youth Employment Strategy to help students get work experience, introduced a textbook tax credit, and much more. Even more, a re-elected Conservative government would double the grant provided to low- and middle-income families through the Registered Education Savings Plan. This could mean nearly $2,200 in additional government support per student.
Libertarian Anthony Gualtieri
Student debt and tuition fees are certainly issues that require attention. In Canada post-secondary education is under the jurisdiction of the provincial government and therefore out of reach of the federal government. Having said that, the federal government has in the past provided financial assistance to the provinces with the understanding the province will use that assistance toward subsidizing post-secondary education - perhaps paying or bringing down student tuition. However, there is no guarantee, the provinces could take those funds and redirect them anywhere they choose. There is no mechanism that I am aware of which would force the province to use those funds for post-secondary education funding. In essence, funds to the province in this regard would be on the honor system, unfortunately we’ve seen by looking at these transactions in the past, there isn’t any.
Liberal Francesco Sorbara
The Liberal Party of Canada is committed to increasing the number of Canadians with university, college and skilled trade credentials, while lowering the costs that middle class families pay. Making post-secondary education more affordable is crucial to Canada’s and Canadians’ economic prosperity — we need an educated and skilled middle class in order to get Canada back on its feet.
Post-secondary education has become more and more necessary for jobs in the 21st century, yet costs continue to rise much faster than many can afford. During the Harper decade, average university tuition increased by more than 30 per cent, putting this goal out of reach for many Canadian families.
We’ll be releasing more details of our plan in the days and weeks ahead.
