Day of Action in 5 Days!

Feb. 7th Day of Action

Is In 5 Days!

So, Day of Action is in 5 days! My student's union has planned for us to walk out to the highway with banners and placards - we've been advised to bring with us anything that will make a lot of noise. This will be fun... oh, the excitement! I still stand by my thoughts that nothing makes the winter season merrier with a good ol' loud protest! Again, THE EXCITEMENT! And Feb. 7th is only getting closer.

Today's information...

Wages Better and Tuition Fees Lower When McGuinty Studied

Modest Minimum Wage Gains Undermined By McGuinty’s Tuition Fee Increases

Minimum wage increases that came into effect today are undermined by soaring tuition fee increases, said the Canadian Federation of Students, Canada's largest national student organization. Despite a modest increase in the minimum wage to $8 an hour, Ontario's students face record tuiton fee levels and mounting student debt.

"Dalton McGuinty is giving with one hand and taking away with the other," said Jesse Greener, Ontario Chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students. "Increasing minimum wage by only 25 cents will not make ends meet for students paying record tuition fees."

"Decision-makers like Premier McGuinty benefited from better wages and lower tuition fees," said Greener. "Reaping the benefits of an affordable education and then turning around and depriving young people today those same opportunities is selfish and hypocritical."

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty began studying Biology at McMaster University in the mid-1970s, the minimum wage in Ontario was $240 an hour and university tuition fees were only $610 for a year. By February 2007, minimum wage has increased to $8.00 an hour while tuiton fees has risen to over $5,000 a year for an undergraduate degree and as much as $17,000 a year for law tuition fees.

"If he had paid for his own education, a young Dalton McGuinty would have had to work for only 6.4 weeks in the summer of 1975 to pay his undergraduate tuition fees," said Greener. "Students working minimum wages jobs in the summer of 2006 would have had to work 16.6 weeks in order to finance a year of undergraduate tuition fees. Working all summer, today's law students could barely pay a third of a year's tuition fees."

Last September, Premier McGuinty cancelled the tuition fees freeze and allowed fees to increase between 4% and 8%, after a 200% increase over the past 15 years. Students across the province, who are calling on Ontario to reduce tuition fees to 2004 levels, have also partnered in a campaign to demand a minimum wage increase to $10 an hour.

"This year, Dalton McGuinty gave Ontario's minimum wage earners a 3% raise, while giving himself a 25% raise to $198,620 a year," said Greener. "McGuinty is making approximately $95 an hour, while students earning minimum wage are kept below the poverty line."

The Canadian Federation of Students, Canada's national student organization, unites more than $500,000 college and university students from coast to coast, and over 300,000 in Ontario.