Progressive Conservative Party proposes education cuts in their platform
In unveiling the Progressive Conservative platform, party leader Tim Hudak announced that in order to curtail the growing debt in Ontario, his party would stop spending in certain areas, increase trade, and decrease taxes. Many Ontarians will appreciate the tax cuts, but it does come at a cost. The spending cuts that garnered the most attention were the 100,000 public sector jobs that would be eliminated, as well as proposed cuts to the education sector and social services. The party said that these cuts would be take place in the first two years.
While the cutbacks to the education sector would affect pre- and post-secondary institutions, one of the more notable cuts at the post-secondary level would be the elimination of funding to the Ontario Tuition Grant.
The Ontario Tuition Grant was put in place by the Liberal government and came into effect in 2012. It provides a 30 per cent deduction off full-time tuition that does not need to be paid back to the government. Students in a post-secondary institution, who have graduated high school within the last four years and are within a certain income bracket, can qualify for the grant. Students who receive OSAP are automatically eligible for the grant.
The individuals who stand to be most affected by this cut include students and their parents or guardians, who may be helping out with tuition. Within the PC platform, there is also mention of policies that would expand Ontario colleges and make it easier for international students to work in Ontario after graduating. However, there is not much detail provided for this area.
The proposed cuts to the education sector have several student and faculty groups concerned about how students will be able to attend post-secondary institutions. The Ontario branch of the Canadian Federation of Students, the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA), and the College Student Alliance (CSA) are concerned about the overall future of post-secondary education in Ontario. The student groups have launched websites to help provide election information to youth voters, as well as several resources and information on the current electoral issues.