CSA-organized rally decries Ford’s policy, advocates for postsecondary funding
A student rally to voice opposition to the OSAP and grant cuts, as well as the Student Choice Initiative, was held at Branion Plaza on Monday, Feb. 4. Following the rally on campus, students and community members marched to the front of the University Centre chanting messages of opposition.
Speakers opposing the cuts included:
- Janice Folk-Dawson, sector chair for the Guelph branch of CUPE
- Paul Caccamo, executive officer of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF)
- Mike Schreiner, MPP for Guelph
- Steven Del Duca, former MPP in Vaughn and former minister of transit for Katherine Wynne’s liberal government
- Kayla Wieler, VP External CSA
- Jamie Gibson, CSA board member
The Liberal finance critic Mitzie Hunter was set to speak at the event, but couldn’t attend due to illness.
“It’s so exciting to see not only students here, but members from the broader community here to stand up for students, and stand up for quality education,” Schreiner said in an interview with The Ontarion. “We need to be investing more in education, not less and we need to be fighting the Ford government cutbacks to education funding.”
Schreiner also told The Ontarion that the Student Choice Initiative is a “direct threat to student advocacy” and a “frontal assault on [student] democracy.”
The rally was part of a cross-province organized protest that hopes to send a message to Ford’s government that the lack of consultations will be met with resistance until there are concessions.
Del Duca, a former provincial liberal cabinet member, argues that the Ford government’s targeting of groups that cannot fight back is typical of what extreme right-wing conservatives do.
He also noted that their policy is unsound economic policy arguing for higher investments in education, not cuts.
“I was shocked because in a globally integrated modern economy, to not have accessible and affordable post-secondary education is economically counterproductive,” said Del Duca. “It also strips away at the social cohesion of our communities, but fundamentally it’s economic policy and that’s why our government made the decision to make college and university free for lower- and middle-income Ontarians.”
Del Duca also said it was a huge step backwards for the province and he called on the Ford government to reverse their decision.
“You don’t build a stronger province, you don’t build stronger communities, and you don’t certainly build a stronger economy if you’re not sitting at the table with those impacted by your decisions,” he continued.
In his speech, Caccamo noted that the Ford government lacked proper consultation with stakeholders and lacked a written platform prior to policy decisions that will affect thousands of students and hundreds of campus organizations.
Caccamo also drew parallels between Mike Harris’s cuts to education in 1997, which saw 25 per cent cuts to universities and a total of $1 billion cut from education, according to The Star. Caccamo told The Ontarion that signs say that the Ford government is going to be much worse.
“This is a government that clearly knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. We are mobilizing and we are going to stand strong against it,” Caccamo told The Ontarion.
After the rally, the group of protestors and politicians posed outside of the UC with fists raised in solidarity.
Weiler told The Ontarion after the rally that more actions against the Ford government are planned including a student walkout on Friday, Feb. 15 and a march to Queen’s Park on Tuesday, Feb.19.
