-A Just Recovery for all Canadians must also mean a Just Education for all Canadians--Greens offering students a strong partner at the Federal level-
OTTAWA – This morning, with the University of Toronto campus in view, Green Party Leader Annamie Paul announced that Canada’s Greens are looking to make post-secondary education truly accessible for all people in Canada.
Today, Ms. Paul committed that she would abolish student tuition and forgive all federally held student debt within the first week of a Green mandate.
Ms. Paul, speaking in advance of the 2021 Budget, said it was time for Parliament and Canada to be ambitious and to think differently on post-secondary education.
“Access to education is a fundamental right,” said Ms. Paul. “What we have heard from students, time and time again, is that the system we currently have in place is simply not working, is leaving more and more students behind and failing to protect this basic right.”
“In Canada, we know that post-secondary education is one of the best investments we can make in our future, and it should be accessible to every single person who wants it. Students are taking on crushing amounts of debt or forgoing studies altogether. High student unemployment caused by the pandemic has only made this situation worse.”
Universal post-secondary education would be partially financed by redirecting existing spending on tuition tax credits, saved costs of administering the student loan system, and the hundreds of millions of dollars of student loan defaults written off every year.
INSPIRING QUOTE – FROM CFS
“High quality, well-funded, and accessible post-secondary education is an essential precondition … to flourish post-pandemic. There is no reconstructing…without students. Students need tangible, meaningful action on tuition and debt, and they need it now.”
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For more information or to arrange an interview:
Rosie Emery
Press Secretary
613-562-4916x206