8/4/2019 CFS Ontario 2011 Liberal Party Report Card on PSE

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TAKE IT OVER! 2011 ONTARIO ELECTIONSREPORT CARD

LIBERAL PARTYDALTON MCGUINTY

Te Liberals released their platform on Labour Day, Sept 5. Teir platform containedthe majority of their promises, and post-secondary education featured prominently.For the full copy of their platform, visit ontarioliberal.ca or go to take-it-over.ca.

OVERALLGRADE:

THE ANALYSISAFFORDABILITY

Te promise to create 60,000 new spacesis consistent with what the Liberalgovernment included in the 2011 Ontario

budget. In that budget, they projected thisenrolment increase to cost $300 million.

Te central piece to the education platformis the promise to create a grant of $1,600 forundergraduate students and $730 for collegestudents, as long as their family makes a combinedincome of less than $160,000 annually. Tisgrant will not be available to graduate students,international students, part-time students and

full-time undergraduate students in professionalprograms. Te cost of this grant program isestimated at $430 million annually and theamount of the grant going to students wouldincrease at the same rate as tuition fees. Tis isa signicant amount of money and would bethe largest form of up-front nancial assistancepromised since the Liberals came to power in2003.

Te Liberals have made almost no newannouncements about the Ontario StudentAssistance Program (OSAP), except for the

extension of the interest-free period for OSAPloans from six months to 12 months aftergraduation for people who work for not-for-prot organizations after they graduate. Tischange would benet only a small amountof employed graduates and falls well short of

GRADE

B

Deveo a newtuition poicy for fal2012 that provide coscertainty to famiieby continuin toreguate tuition f.

To make urethere a ace for

every sudent who iwilin and quaied,wel create 60,000more ace.

CANADIAN

FEDERATION OF

STUDENTS-ONTARTAKE-IT-OVER.CA

students recommendations to extend the interest-free and

payment-free period for all graduates no matter whichsector they work in. Te Liberals say that no other changes

will be announced.

Te Liberal platform does not have a tuition fee policy.Unlike their promise to freeze tuition fees during the 2003election, they have stated that a new tuition fee policy willbe developed after the election. Te Liberals have increasedtuition fees by 34 to 59 per cent since 2006, so it is a majorconcern that the party will not state its tuition fee framework.Any post-secondary education framework that aims toincrease aordability for students must address the high up-front cost of education, a legacy of

all three political parties while ingovernment. Because the Liberalshave no plan to address tuitionfees, they receive an F. However,their signicant investment ingrants earns them an A, makingtheir overall mark for aordabilitya B.

FUNDING & QUALITY

Te Liberal Partyspolicies are encompassed

within a frameworkcalled Putting StudentsFirst. While the details weresomewhat vague when it wasannounced, it did indicate thatthe Liberals wanted to institutea funding framework for post-secondary education.

NOTE Each of the report cards have been created with the most up-to-datecontent at the time of printing. If there are additional announcements that aectstudents throughout the campaign period, the report card may change accordingly.Visit take-it-over.ca for updates throughout the election campaign period.

8/4/2019 CFS Ontario 2011 Liberal Party Report Card on PSE

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CANADIA

FEDERATION O

STUDENTS-ONTARIOTAKE-IT-OVER.CA

Te Liberals have committed $430million for an upfront grant, $300million for the enrolment increase and$300 million for three satellite campuses.

Te money dedicated to enrolmentincreases and new satellite campuses

will not address the issue of quality inuniversities and colleges. While these twoannouncements will create new spacesfor students, there is no commitmentto hire additional faculty. Whats worse,the satellite campuses are planned to beteaching-only undergraduate campuses.

Te quality of education oered at thesecampuses should be of concern, sinceteaching and research together form thefoundation of a university education. Itis highly likely that cheaper sessional orcontract faculty will be hired for these

positions rather than hiring tenure-trackfaculty that would teach and conductcurrent research in their respective eld.Because the Liberals continue to denythe link between class size and quality,and because teaching-only universitiesare bad public policy for Ontario, theyreceive a C.

RESEARCH

Te Liberal platform does notmention research or graduate

students. Graduate studentspay the highest tuition fees in the

country and research opportunities havebecome harder and harder to obtain. Tecreation of three new undergraduatesatellite campuses is an investment thatcould have included graduate students,but will instead dierentiate the teachingand research functions of the university,negatively aecting quality.

Te Liberal Innovation Agenda doesnot mention publicly-funded research

such as research conducted at post-secondary institutions. It instead focuseson increasing the number of start-upcompanies in Ontario. As such, theyreceive an F for their lack of a researchfunding plan.

TAKE IT OVER!2011 ONTARIO ELECTIONS REPORT CARD

LIBERAL

DALTONMCGUINTY

OVERALLGRADE

STUDENT RIGHTS

& PROTECTION

Te good: Te Liberal promise to expand GO train service onall corridors will help enable students to travel to and fromschool.

Te bad: Liberal MPP Yasir Naqvi Bill 184 and NDP MPPRosario Marchese introduced a bill that protected students unionsright to organize in March 2011. Te Bill did not have enoughsupport from the Liberal caucus to pass before the prorogation ofOntarios Legislative Assembly.

In May 2011, a private members bill was amended that wouldextend the oversight of the Ontario Ombudsman to includeuniversities. While the opposition parties voted in favour of this bill,every member of the Liberal caucus but one voted against the bill.Considering their lack of response to the range of questions studentsasked about student rights and protections, the Liberals have earneda C.

Were goin to uort al mie-a Ontariofamiie with a 30% acro-the-board poseconryundergraduate tuition grant [T]he famiie of

ve out of ix sudent [wil] ave $1,600 per sudentin univerity and $730 per sudent in colege.