Students across Ontario are hard at work in order to demand an immediate reversal of Premier Ford’s disastrous plan for post-secondary education. The students launched the “We The Students,” campaign which calls on several changes to be made from the provincial government.
The campaign demands the government to: Provide more grants, not loans; eliminate tuition for all students; increase public funding for public education; protect students’ independent voices; and, defend the right to organize. The PC government is up against Nour Alideeb, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario (CFS-O). The claims here are that the government is attacking ideologies on campuses.
As part of the “We The Students” campaign, the CFS-O are not alone, They are supported by the Ontario Public Sector Employees Union (OPSEU), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF), the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO), the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), the United Steel Workers (USW) and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).
These cuts that the Ford government is implementing slash at students associations funding and RM Kennedy of OPSEU claims that this will greatly affect the students supports and chances of success in and out of the classroom. The OCUFA stands in solidarity with students against the government to reverse the changes in place meant to undermine the post-secondary education system. Rights and representations are in danger on campus and it is feared that both the accessibility and quality of post secondary education in Ontario will suffer.
Sam Hammond of Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario says it best “No student should have to pay for government cuts.” For more information on last weeks Week of Action you can check out the Facebook event “We The Students: Week of Action.”