9 million adult learners also forgotten in the “budget for everyone”

OTTAWA – At a time of skyrocketing tuition fees and student debt, as well as chronic underfunding for adult literacy programs, the Conservative plan to build a “knowledge advantage” for Canada takes one small step forward and two steps back, said NDP Post-Secondary Education Critic Denise Savoie (Victoria).

“With over one million students in Canada, this budget directly affects only one thousand,” said Savoie. “There’s more money to attract students from other countries than to increase access for prospective Canadian college, apprenticeship, undergraduate, medical or law students combined.”

Savoie dismissed the minor tweaks to the RESP system, which offer no benefit for parents who cannot afford to save, or who can make only modest contributions.

“We have $40 million for high-income parents of young children, and $0 for low and middle-income students and families who have to pay tuition this September,” said Savoie. “We’re unfairly asking many parents to choose between feeding or educating their kids.”

To make matters worse, students were explicitly excluded from the Working Income Tax Benefit, even though hundreds of thousands of students have to work full-time to afford their tuition fees and lower their eventual student debt.

“There is no plan for student debt, no plan to ensure that the expiring Millennium Scholarship funding remains in the system as needs-based student grants, and no plan to make education more affordable for low- and middle-income families,” said Savoie.

Finally, Savoie pointed to the omission of adult literacy funding in the budget, except for plans to download that responsibility fully to the provinces.

“Adult literacy funding was inadequate under the Liberals, and it is being gutted by the Conservatives,” said Savoie. “If we want an equitable and competitive economy, we need federal leadership on literacy, not abandonment.”

---

I will post my thoughts on this later, just sharing this press release for now.

Just letting everyone know about this event next week:

January 6
6:30 PM
Higher Ground Coffee in Kensington
1126 Kensington Road

Another get together similar to the one in December. We can have political and casual discussions, and just get to know each other. If you are are youth (14-25) and are interested in the NDP, this is a great way to meet other youth in Calgary with similiar beliefs and ideas. We will also be finalizing our plans for an upcoming event at Mount Royal College. Also some members from Edmonton will be in Calgary joining us.

Hope to see new and familiar faces at this social. Bring a friend or two if you can.

I’m just letting everyone know that about 3 months ago we started a message board over at the New Democratic Youth of Alberta (NDYA) website. It’s active, but we would love to see more members. The message board is intended for NDP members and supporters, regardless of age or where you live. So if you are interested in political discussion I suggest you check out the NDYA Message Board.