Brian Decker
Executive Editor
Ontarians may be headed back to the polls this spring.
The Liberal provincial minority government tabled its proposed budget Tuesday, but Opposition and Progressive Conservative party Leader Tim Hudak says his party will not support the budget, putting Andrea Horwath’s New Democratic Party in a position to decide whether the budget is voted down.
The budget aims to slash the province’s $15.3 billion deficit by freezing wages at hospitals, universities, colleges and on other public sector employees. If it is defeated, an election could be called as early as May.
“We are making the right choices to ensure that Ontario families are receiving the best possible services and the best value for tax dollars,” said Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan. “All of us have a role to play in balancing the budget.”
The budget aims to save $17.7 billion over the next three years while increasing revenues by $4.4 billion without tax increases. But opponents of the legislation say it’s leaving too many groups out of the equation.
“With students having huge debt and not a lot of job prospects coming out of school, it’s concerning that there’s nothing in this budget for job creation,” said Hamilton Mountain MPP Monique Taylor.
“The budget’s falling short on job creation and health care. There’s nothing in to help everyday families and make life easier for them,” said Taylor. “That’s a serious problem.”
Horwath said that her party’s MPPs will be meeting with constituents and having a “serious talk” this week over whether to support the budget.
“We’re not ready to make that decision yet,” said Taylor. “We won’t know that until after our next caucus meeting.”
Some of the features of the budget include austerity toward pensions for current public sector employees, including greater required contributions and a reduction in future benefits, as well as a freeze on scheduled drops in corporate income taxes and the Business Education tax.
The budget comes on the heels of February’s Drummond Report, which called for numerous measures to take place in order to quickly tackle the deficit.
However, the Liberals left a number of the report’s recommendations out of the budget, including a plan to cancel the recent 30 per cent tuition grant for university students.
“The government’s commitment to continue funding enrolment growth and the tuition grant are critical to creating a more accessible and affordable post-secondary education system,” said Sean Madden, President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA), a provincial student lobbying group.
Madden said, however, that postsecondary education still needs to be a bigger priority for the McGuinty Liberals.
“With this Budget, our universities will continue to operate with the least per-student funding and highest tuition fees of any province, while teaching quality and student success remain pressing issues,” he said.
Dina Fanara
Assistant News Editor
“Education is our right, we will not give up the fight!”
Feb. 1 was known as the Day of Action for university students across Canada, as many marched through their respective campuses to take a stand against rising tuition fees. McMaster students gathered to chant in Mills Plaza from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
According to the Vancouver Sun, 24 campuses in British Columbia alone were to partake in the rally.
At the McMaster campus, a little over 50 students arrived within the first ten minutes of the event. The CHCH news crew was also present at the event, interviewing students and taking video footage of the rally as it began.
Music was blasting, thanks to a DJ present outside the Student Centre. People were gathering, and signs and snacks were shared. Students showed immense enthusiasm to be a part of such a movement. Though McMaster Security and Hamilton Police were present, no issues of conflict arose.
McMaster student Mel Napeloni said, “we need to have more activism on campus,” adding that it was great to see something that all students can relate to.
While the student group Occupy McMaster played a role in organizing the event, many students from all areas of the University were present, including members of the SRA (Student Representative Assembly), presidential candidates, graduate students and representatives of CUPE Union Local 3906, which represents teaching assistants, sessional professors and postdoctoral fellows on campus.
In a speech to the students in attendence, Simon Granat, SRA representative for the Faculty of Social Sciences, stated that, “we’re taking a stand to say students care about other students.”
Similarly, SRA Health Sciences representative Riaz Sayani-Mulji stated that, “we are the student movement, we can make a difference.” He explained that this is a critical time for students to make their voices heard, because the way the government grant system currently runs excludes two in three university students.
“Education is a human right,” continued Sayani-Mulji, and it’s something that many potential students have difficulty accessing because of cost limitations. According to Rick Gunderman, the candidate representing the Communist Party in the previous provincial election, the solution would be to “cut tuition altogether… attack from all angles that they are attacking us from.”
The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) distributed leaflets to be handed out to students across Canada, outlining their three main goals: to drop student debt, reduce tuition fees and increase education funding.
The leaflet employs the awe-factor to support the movement, outlining that students are left with an average debt of approximately $37,000 upon graduation, and “tuition fees are growing faster than public transit, rent, food and other costs faced by students.”
After gathering in the Mills Plaza, students marched in unison, cheering, “What do we want? Dropped fees! When do we want it? Now!”
The march route included locations such as the Burke Science Building, the John Hodgins Engineering Building, University Avenue, the Arts Quad and the University Hall archway, concluding in Mills Plaza.
An article from Macleans entitled, “Protests underway from coast to coast,” underlines the finding that over the past twenty years, the proportion of operating costs of universities covered by public funding has dropped dramatically from 81 per cent to a mere 57 per cent.
