The Harsh Reality about Our Future
Algoma-Manitoulin NDP MPP Michael Mantha
At face value free tuition for students sounds great. In fact, it seems too good to be true. New Democrats know that students have been trying to get assistance for post-secondary studies for years. At the end of the day, if it helps out the students, then we are all for it. However, as with everything this government announces the devil is in the details.
At the same time this new program comes into play, the 3% cap on tuition increase will end. Seemingly, tuition will be linked to the new tuition framework around the 2017/2018 year. When the Minister was asked whether there would be a cap on tuition in the upcoming years, the only answer we got was “maybe.” For New Democrats, it doesn’t sound very solid to us. Recently, the Minister stated that students in high level programs, such as law or medicine, “might have to pay a bit more.” than students in social sciences. Why should students working hard in school to get a higher degree have to pay “a bit more?”
Additionally, there has been no involvement or effort in post-secondary education. All that is going on is the “re-packaging” of the money the liberal government already has into new programs. This whole “free tuition” idea seems to be dependent on OSAP transformation and is heavily dependent on the Federal Liberal government to actually fulfill their promises. There is no new money, just current money being moved around and made into a big announcement.
Students aren’t the only ones struggling, for seniors it’s about to get a lot worse. After this 2016 budget, seniors are going to have to pay almost double for their prescription drugs. Seniors in Ontario deserve nothing but the utmost respect, and as a result, they should have their medicine ready for them for no outrageous cost whenever they need them. Kathleen Wynne’s budget makes it even harder for seniors to stay healthy in Ontario; making it a challenge for them to get their medications.
Nearly 2/3 of Canadian seniors take 5 or more prescription drugs, and nearly 2/3 of them will be paying almost double their cost. Studies conclude that one in three Ontario seniors need 10 or more prescriptions for different drugs a year. Why should the Liberal government make life harder for our seniors to get better quicker?
On another note, the Ring of Fire has been put off for too long. Every year, the Liberal government has promised to fund it, yet every year goes by and they continue to ignore it. This government has promised us that they are going to invest $1 billion into the Ring of Fire. They promised this same money in their last budget, and in their 2014 campaign. This is clearly just a copy and paste budget. This project is dependent on transportation, electricity prices, environmental guidelines, infrastructure, and most importantly the government’s leadership, but they have failed miserably. This liberal government continues to make big promises and never follows through. They need to give us a definite answer on when the Ring of Fire will be properly invested into so that investors, companies, First Nations and northern communities can start to plan and to ensure this project doesn’t die.
As always, please feel free to contact my office about this issue or any other provincial matters. You can reach my constituency office by email at mmantha-co@ndp.on.ca or by phone at 705-461-9710/1-800-831-1899.
MPP Michael Mantha, Algoma-Manitoulin
