Voices

So, I was browsing around on the Halifax federal candidates' websites, and noticed a frustrating trend.

Here is the summary:

From Ted Larsen's Website: "I believe our city needs a strong voice in the Government of Canada"

From Catherine Meade's website: "Her enthusiasm for her local community is unparalleled and she will be more than a voice in Ottawa, she will motivate action for change."

From Megan Leslie's website: "In this election, we need to ensure Halifax residents continue to have a strong voice in Ottawa."

Personally, I value listening skills. But yes, in a parliament of 308 members, I'm sure if you do your voice exercises before QP, someone is bound to pay attention to us.

I promise I'll have some better updates tomorrow.

Vlog Void

I chose not to blog about it when it happened, but because of the prolonged buzz around the supposed rogue NDP supporter and vlogger, I figure I'll take a stab at it.

In case you were living in a hole for the past week, a youtube video and facebook page appeared on the internet Monday evening. The video featured audio sound bites of NDP candidate Megan Leslie talking at a protest in front of Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI), while showing pictures of an Atlantica Protest staged by the Halifax Coalition Against Poverty (HCAP), and essentially claimed the Leslie was a radical that endorsed the disruptive HCAP style protests featured in the images displayed. The video claimed to be made by and NDP supporter, Jess MacDonald, a supposed NDP supporter, who also felt strongly that Halifax had nominated the wrong candidate, and that electing Alexis MacDonald would have ensured Halifax a spot in Jack Layton's cabinet. Right. I know quite a few dippers, many of them good friends, and I know very few that are that optimistic about Laytons odds.

The Coast has targeted Keith Torrie, and is hinting that he himself was behind the crafting of the video. It seems like The Coast hasn't been following the blogosphere as closely as I. Given the performance of the Young Conservatives at the NDP nomination meeting I would have suspected them before the young liberals. If you also compare the line about having a cabinet member in Jack Layton's government to every Conservative Candidate's stump line "[Atlantic Canada] needs a member of government", I think the suspicion gets even stronger.

I, like The Coast bloggers, don't have any sure answers as to who is actually behind the mask of JMcDonaldNDP2008, but I felt the need to balance the debate of the blogosphere, with what seemed to be unrealistic (though entertaining) suspicions.

In other news, check out this great video of Garth Turner getting interviewed live on CPAC, while he doesn't seem to realize he is on air.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5l5q-wspXo

Liberals Make Big Promises

Original Blog Posting

So, if you haven't yet had a chance to check out the Liberal Party announcement on PSE, check it out. Or, if you just want the basics, keep on reading this blog!

A Liberal government promises to make the following investments in Post Secondary Education through a 20 year education endowment fund:

• 200,000 needs-based bursaries of up to $3,500 per year
• 100,000 access grants of up to $4,000 per year for groups under-represented in post-secondary education
• Guaranteed student loans of $5,000, regardless of parental income
• Expansion of the post-graduation student loan interest free repayment period from six months to two years
• Reducing the student loan interest rate to prime
  
• A guaranteed universal education grant of $1000 for each full-time student in Canada each year - to replace the Harper tax credits program
  
• Increase tricouncil research funding by more than a third of its current value
  

These are just the highlights from the liberal plan. The cost, over 20 years, is estimated around $25 Billion. This is a big step up from the 50-50 plan announced by the Liberals in the 2006 election. It is clear that much more thought was put into this proposal than the last.

So, before getting too much into the criticisms of this platform, I must say that what they've promised is good. I wouldn't take away anything that is here. Obviously, the more money we can put into these programs, the better. This plan will increase access opportunities for Canadian youth who currently aren't participating in our PSE system. Unlike the Green Party plan , the Liberals have put forward a system of grants that is fully costed. We don't know the specifics of how the plan will be administered, or what the exact criteria will be for qualification for grants, and likely won't hear much about it until (if ever) the plan is implemented.

What's missing?

There is no significant mention of how the Liberals would work with the provinces to deliver this program. Aside from working with the provinces to ensure fairer provincial student loan practises and increasing aboriginal representation in the PSE system, we don't hear much at all. The responsibility for education has long been in the jurisdiction of the province, based on the understanding that each province has specific needs, and that blanket approaches don't neccessarily work nationwide. A dedicated transfer to the provinces for post secondary education is really what is needed.

Nova Scotia, in particular, desperately needs reform to the Canadian Social Transfer, the funding formula for transfering funding to the province for Post Secondary Education. The problem with the formula, is that it doesn't credit provinces like Nova Scotia for taking students from other provinces. Essentially, students from out of province make up about one third of our student population, but their tax dollars don't follow them to Nova Scotia.

Another critical element missing from the Liberal platform is Early Outreach. We know from the great research that the Millenium Canadian Scholarship Foundation has done that certain demographics of our population need early outreach programs like Pathways to ensure that they are aware of the educational oppotunities available to them after high school, and to ensure they are prepared for university once they arrive. No matter how many new programs we introduce, we need to pursue early outreach programs to ensure the opportunities available to Canadians are equally clear to all demographics.

The liberals made an announcement on childcare and early learning later in the day, but it's not clear exactly what the early learning programs will incorporate.

CASA and CFS have both responded to the announcement differently. “Tuition fee increases eat away at the value of any student grant, and we were disappointed that there was no commitment to work with the provinces to cap and reduce tuition fees,” Katherine Giroux-Bougard, National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. “Increased federal transfers are key to protecting families from future tuition fee increases." I'm with her on this one.

“CASA believes the measures proposed by the Liberal Party will help students and families cope with the accelerated costs of education,” said Zach Churchill, National Director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. “The proposed plan, if implemented, can significantly enhance access to post-secondary education system, by providing funding to students who need it the most, while helping to lower the epidemic growth of student debt in this country.”

And thus my dissatisfaction with federal advocacy groups. The CFS response was too teethy, and the CASA response wasn't teethy enough.

Liberal Announcement on Education

Liberals announce education platform Analysis to follow...

Liberal support for students and research will build 21st-century economy

LONDON – A new Liberal government will significantly increase support for students and increase investments to support research to help more Canadians succeed in the 21st-century knowledge economy, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion announced today.

“We have to increase support for students to make sure university and college is accessible to all Canadians. The future productivity and economic success of Canada depends on the investments we make in research and development today,” said Mr. Dion.

To that end, a new Liberal government will make post-secondary education more accessible by:

• simplifying support measures for students by replacing complicated and often irrelevant tax credits that don’t benefit students with an education grant that will be delivered four times a year, putting money in the hands of students when they need it most;

• providing 200,000 needs-based bursaries of up to $3,500 per year by the fourth year of our plan to help reduce the number of Canadians for whom cost remains an insurmountable barrier to education;

• providing 100,000 access grants of up to $4,000 per year by the fourth year of our plan for those who are members of groups that are traditionally under-represented in post-secondary education;

• ensuring that every student is eligible for a $5,000 student loan regardless of parental income; and

• guaranteeing a lower interest rate for all student loans, extending the grace period on repayment post graduation from six months to two years, making that grace period interest-free and extending the time that individuals have to repay their student loans.

“Innovation, new ideas and processes are key components of productivity and ultimately, future economic growth. The direct and indirect funds we invest in research and development today will drive the economy of the future,” said Mr. Dion. “It is also important to support projects that reach beyond the barriers of their discipline.”

A new Liberal government will increase research and development support by:

• increasing support for the indirect costs of university-based research by more than 60 per cent to $500 million a year;

• enhancing support for Canada’s three granting councils by 34 per cent;

• creating an Interdisciplinary Sustainability Fund of $100 million to enable scientists, researchers and graduate students to undertake projects that extend beyond the barrier of their disciplines; and

• extending the tax credit for private sector research and development so that even companies who are not currently making a profit will have an incentive to invest in research and development.

“Support for learning has been a long-standing Liberal value and under a new Liberal government we will make the investments in the post-secondary education and research needed to ensure Canada can compete in the 21st century,” said Mr. Dion.

The Rae Revival?

Dion did Halifax yesterday. After announcing the details of the new Liberal drug plan, he tried his best to invigorate a crowd of grits at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

Before Dion's speech, however, Bob Rae fired up the crowd with a five minute speech in support of Dion and in sharp criticism of Mr. Harper. As far as political speeches go, this one was high up there. Regardless of whether or not you agreed with what he was saying, you had to give him mad props for the delivery. For a play by play of this speech, see this article from the Herald. No wonder Garth Turner labeled Rae "the sum of all conservative fears" in a blog posting when he was still in the running for the Liberal Leadership.

Dions speech was... interesting. I'm not sure how many liberals were wondering why they hadn't elected the other guy while Dion was stumbling through his stump speech, but the thought was mentioned by some observers.

There were no major announcements in this speech. Dion tried to quote a line from Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry be Happy, but ended up just telling everyone to be happy. Thanks Stephane. I needed a boost.

I'll lay off Dion for now though. The liberals are set to release their education platform within the hour so expect a press release and a blog from us. I am hoping I'll have better things to say about Dion and the Grits later today.

I Say N-D, you say... urinalyis.

Original Blog Posting

Here's a (shaky) video I shot at the Jack Layton announcement on student loan debt forgiveness for family doctors yesterday.

(Facebook users will have to click the link to view it)
Part 1 (Introduction)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVGBxp80zwo

Part 2 (Student Announcement)



http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit2?ns=1&video_id=xKXyc74uNS0&next=%2Fmy_videos2%3Fpi%3D0%26ps%3D20%26sf%3Dadded%26sa%3D0%26sq%3D%26dm%3D2

Dippers be trippin'

Jack Layton rolled into Dal this morning to talk about health care with local med-students (and non-medstudents). The big announcement
was about expanding the number of seats available in medical schools, and in line with that increasing the funding available for students wishing to pursue studies in family medicine.

Here's the meat for students: "[The NDP] plan will forgive student loans for health care professionals who stay in family practice for ten years." In addition to this, the plan also commits to creating "50% more training spaces in Canada for doctors and nurses" as well as fixing the foreign credentials program to increase the number of foreign doctors.

Initially it appeared that the plan would forgive debt after graduates stayed in a program for 10 years, but when questioned by a reporter Mr. Layton seemed to do a double take and clarified that this funding would be made available up-front, when students graduated and began their carreers, putting a strange emphasis on the ability of the tax system to reclaim that money should they break their committment to family medicine.

The reason, Layton stated for rewarding students who stick with family medicine as a practise, was to ensure that their mountain of debt didn't lure them into specialist studies (and more debt) in order to pay off their original debt. He also mentioned that they based the idea for this program off of a conversation he and Alexa McDonough had with a group of med-students just last year.

I spoke with one of Layton's policy advisors after the announcement, and mentioned that we were concerned about how up-front affordability is a bigger concern for students thinking about med-school. Consider the fact that the average Nova Scotian student leaves their university degree with more debt than their counterparts in any other region of Northa America. A reward of student loan forgiveness 5 - 15 years down the road may not be that inticing after already accruing a mini-mortgage. Consider also the fact that many Med Students take debt of other forms, such as bank debt and lines of credit, which seem to be overlooked completely by this plan, as with the Green plan, and as with any plan that focuses solely on Canada Student Loan debt.

I'll have a video of the announcement to upload later in the day, stay tuned.

Your Candidates...

Original Posting from: http://dsu-vped.blogspot.com


On Friday morning the CPC announced their candidate for the riding of Halifax. They were the final major national party to announce their candidate for this riding. So, I've done my worst and snooped around to find out as much as I can about your choices. Thank me later. In alphabetical order, by party name, here you are:


Conservative Party of Canada: Ted Larsen

Occupation: Small Business Owner

Facebook Supporters: 103

Website: http://www.tedlarsen.ca/

Ted's facebook page says he is a single parent of three, former advisor to the premier (it doesn't say which premier, but I'm assuming Hamm). There's not alot of info out yet, his website isn't up yet, and his FB supporters seem to be mix of people from Halifax and a smattering of Conservative supporters from across the country including some other candidates.

Green Party of Canada: Darryl Whetter

Occupation: Writer, Dalhousie Professor

Facebook Supporters: 26

Website: http://darrylwhetter.greenparty.ca/

Whetter recently announced he would be a candidate in Halifax when he removed his name from the ballot in Cumberland-Colchestor Musquidoboit Valley, the riding currently held by Conservative Party Outcast Bill Casey. The Greens then said that Casey would not be opposed, as he was already an "honorary green". Whetter gets props for keeping a regularly updated blog since the campaign began. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much evidence of a strong campaign from his end yet, but I am waiting to be proven wrong.

New Democratic Party of Canada: Megan Leslie

Occupation: Community Lawyer

Facebook Supporters: 192

Website: http://www.meganleslie.ca/

Given Halifax's strong dipper tendencies, it is not surprising that Ms. Leslie faced a tough race to secure her nomination as the NDP candidate. Leslie has been in Halifax for a while, taught at Dal, worked in the community and has established a strong network of supporters on her own. The NDP had 1041 members in Halifax as of last monday. Leslie inherets a strong campaign team from Alexa and the FIVE provincial ridings held by the NDP within the HRM. There was a lot of talk at her nomination meeting about electing the candidate who can keep this riding NDP. A tad too partisan for my likings, and I'm looking to the other candidates to make sure she doesn't get a free ride.

Liberal Party of Canada: Catherine Meade

Occupation: Will, Estate and Property Lawyer

Facebook Supporters:12

Website: http://meade4halifax.com/

Meade has sought the grit nomination before, to no avail. She even forgot to take down her last campaign website and fooled some local journalists into going to the wrong spot for this years nomination meeting. She's been active in the Rainbow Action Project, has a plethora of post secondary education and seems to have a resume full of community involvement. I'm looking forward to hearing more information on this candidate, as with Mr. Larsen.

Living on debt row…

As I mentioned in my last post, the Greens are the first party to unveil their post secondary education (PSE) platform. There were three major parts to this announcement. Boosting support to the CSLP and bursary programs, increased transfer payments to the provinces for PSE and a forgivenes of 50% of your student loan for completing your degree or certificate program."Young people in Canada deserve a quality education that doesn't leave them with a debt sentence,” Green Leader Elizabeth May says, stealing a line from another federal lobby group who have yet to launch a campaign website. But, back to the Green Plan.

The first two announcements shouldn't count for much yet, because there aren't any dollar figures attached to them. Increased support for CSLP and bursary programs is obviously a good thing, but how much increased support are we talking about? How will the bursaries be awarded? Based on need? Underepresentation within the PSE system? Parental income? "Students need to hear more details about their proposals," CASA National Director Zach Churchill states. "Specifically, we would like to see the Green Party target the increases in bursary funding towards raising the participation rates of underrepresented groups, such as Aboriginal students and students with disabilities.”

Increasing the transfer payments to the provinces is definitely a good idea. A dedicated transfer for PSE is an even better one. Another problem with the PSE system that Elizabeth May (and all NS politicians) should be attentive to is the fact that the Canada Social Transfer (the fed-provincial transfer mechanism for PSE, among other things) is delivered on a per-capita basis, which doesn't account for the number of students studying in a province. Nova Scotia is a net importer of students, and per usual gets the proverbial transfer payment shaft. Essentially, Ontario sends their students here, but their tax dollars don't follow them. This has led to our provincial government choosing the short-sited root of charging differential tuition rates to out of province students. Any increased transfer payments to our province ought to be calculated on a per student basis, otherwise we'll continue to get a smaller share of the PSE pie.

The major announcement from the greens, 50% student loan forgiveness upon completion of a PSE program, is intriguing. It makes me think of the Liberal's 50-50 plan from the 2006 election, whereby the government would pay 50% of a student's first and last year. I am slighlty baffled by both of these approaches, they both use the magic number "fifty", both are obviously aimed at decreasing high university drop-out rates (of nearly 15% across canada), and both seem as if they were thought up a few minutes before the announcements were made (which, for the Liberals at least, is true).

The nifty-fifty green deal is worth examining. On first glance, a few things jump out. It's definitely good for students with student loans, as well as former students still struggling with debt. In fact, if I were a graduating high school student it would appear to be a huge incentive to get a student loan, as opposed to some other type of credit. But most interestingly, this plan would also forgive 50% of the debt of graduates, which would be a HUGE investment, given the amount of student debt already accumulated in canada, which the CFS debt-tracker charts at almost 13 billion at the time of writing. The Greens might be unprepared to make a budgetary committment this big, but the point is moot since they have a slim chance of forming government anytime soon.

Do you like handcuffs?

Stephen Harper decided to make a pit stop in Halifax this morning. Just days after Halifax Conservatives lost their candidate because of a criminal record check gone bad, the big cheese rolled into town. It's no surprise that that this particular campaign stop was made at Chamber of Commerce at a special breakfast. His announcements, however, took an interesting twist.

This is still the exciting portion of the election campaign, when platforms aren't yet released and we're hearing about new proposals every day. Harper picked this campaign stop to reify some ideas that we should expect from the conservative party. His speech was heavy on the principles of free trade, competitiveness in the global market, and encouraging foreign investment in the Canadian economy. He emphasized the conservative government's eagerness to become competitive in the global uranium trade, and their opposition to the Liberal Green Shift. Nothing new here, really.

While Harper was quick to critique the Green shift, saying it was bad for Canadians, bad for business, and will ultimately have a negligible effect on the rate of greenhouse gas emissions, he was short on alternatives. While the Harper Conservatives claim to have a better tax plan, PMSH didn't even attempt to suggest he had a better plan for GHG mitigation. Environmental groups have said this all along; is this a sign the conservatives finally giving up on the eco-vote?

After the breakfast we stuck around to try and get some face time with PMSH, and unfortunately didn't get as much face time as some people, but I did get a handshake and told the prime minister we were looking forward to hearing platform announcement about post secondary education. "We're crunching new things up everyday," he replied, "and can't make all our announcements in one day." A few minutes later we met Peter Mackay, and he hinted to us that in we should look to expect some new announcements on Debt Relief programs for those of us with student loans. Debt relief, as the conservatives have promoted, is great for the students who are here now, but is a reactive measure and doesn't show any commitment to increasing access or affordability in our PSE systems. I'll blog more about this once the official announcement is out.

Speaking of announcements, only one party has made an official announcement about PSE, this one. The Greens are looking to offer a type of university completion award, that will forgives 50% of your student loan once you complete university. So, debt relief. I have a feeling this isn't the same kind of debt relief the Cons are talking about. Wait and see.

The Green Party PSE plan has got to be taken at face value as well. Remember two things: not everyone leaving university with debt, has student loans. Lines of credit are very popular, as are coupling university expenses with parent's loans for better interest rates, or convenience. Secondly, this plan seems to be the result of half-think, something that is still in the incubation stage. I'm not saying its a terrible idea, I think it might even bring students into the PSE system. I think it needs more work, and it bears striking resemblance to the plan released by the Green Party last election .

For those of you who clicked on this post for the racy title, it's actually a quote from Stephen Harper (remember tough on crime) during his tour around Halifax today...

University students want to vote

From today's Herald:


Alliance: Many in local schools not considered city residents
By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER City Hall Reporter
Fri. Sep 5 - 4:46 AM

" border="0"> Dalhousie University Student Union vice-president Mark Coffin says that legislation that will prevent thousands of university students in Halifax from voting in the municipal election is ‘out of step.’ (Tim Krochak / Staff)

Thousands of university students in Halifax won’t be permitted to mark an X for a city hall candidate.

Provincial legislation prevents many of them from voting in the Oct. 18 Halifax municipal election and that’s unfair, says the chairman of the Halifax Student Alliance.

"It’s out of step," Mark Coffin said in an interview Thursday.

Students with a family home elsewhere in the province are allowed to cast a ballot but only in the district where their family lives.

"So students who live in a different part of the province will not be permitted to vote in Halifax, the place where they spend the majority of their year," Mr. Coffin said.

Out-of-province students who have lived in the city since July 18 — three months prior to the election — can vote.

But Mr. Coffin said many students go away for the summer to work, so they’re likely out of luck.

Students who come to Halifax for university have strong feelings about the city, he said.

"A lot of them would like to stay here but many of them don’t because there aren’t as many opportunities here as elsewhere. But maybe by giving them the vote, they would be able to shape the direction of Halifax and possibly create more opportunities for themselves when they’re done school and looking for employment."

The chairman of the coalition, which represents the interests of more than 20,000 university and college students, would like to see the eligibility for municipal election voting fall more in line with federal rules.

"In a federal election, you can choose to vote for a candidate in your home riding or your school area," he said.

And while most students will likely get to vote in a federal election, rumoured to be called for Oct. 14, he said municipal politics often have a greater impact on people.

"There’s a lot more potential for change in what students see locally." It’s also a landmark election year, he said, because it coincides with the 250th anniversary of democracy in Canada, a movement that started in Nova Scotia.

"We’ve just gone through a whole series of events and campaigns put on by the provincial government that said it’s important for youth to vote."

Mr. Coffin’s alliance has written to Municipal Relations Minister Jamie Muir requesting a change in the legislation. But a department spokesman said it’s unlikely anything could happen this fall.

Any change would have to go to the legislature for consideration, communications director Donna Chislett said Thursday.

"At this point in time, with the House not in session and with no consultation having been undertaken, it would not be a change that would be possible before the upcoming municipal election," she said Thursday.

She stressed students aren’t being excluded — they just have to vote in their hometown.

If nothing can be accomplished before Oct. 18, Mr. Coffin said, the alliance will focus on getting things changed for the next election in 2012.

"We’d love to have it changed now so that we can have a ‘Get out to vote’ campaign and actually encourage our students to vote."

The sheer number of university students in Halifax — Dalhousie alone has 15,000 — could make them a force to be reckoned with, he said.

"In elections, there are usually one to three thousand people who turn out to vote, so students are potentially the swing vote. So it’s definitely important for the students and for the candidates running."

( apugsley@herald.ca)