The citizens of Canada have spoken in the loudest voice that the current political system allows them to: their words are “get him out.” And after the recent federal election, Stephen Harper is indeed out.
A slogan that Camosun College students may have heard is “ABC,” which stands for “anything but Conservative.” Such a phrase is worrisome, as it can serve as an excuse to be swayed one way or another without even doing the required research to make an informed opinion or an informed vote.
Did students vote because they wanted Justin Trudeau in, or because they were sick of Harper? Regardless of why the results of the 2015 federal election are what they are, there are going to be changes to postsecondary education as a result. Whether these changes are good for students, many of whom have outrageous loans, debts, and full, busy lives on top of being students, remains to be seen. One thing is for sure: Canadians wanted a change. And they got it. But what does this mean for students?
CHANGES FROM INSIDE
Vancouver Island NDP candidates were elected in six of seven island ridings. Victoria MP Murray Rankin (who is known for being the only candidate who wants to get rid of Bill C-51 entirely) got in with over 42 percent of the vote. He says he is committed to holding the Liberals to their promises, and to easing the financial burdens of students.
“I find it really unconscionable, the amount of debt that students are graduating with,” says Rankin. “Costs cannot be a barrier, in a meritocracy like Canada, to allowing the best and the brightest people to go to college. We can’t, as a society, let this become a playground for the wealthy.”
Rankin says that funding for postsecondary is a priority for him. He says he wants to make sure that no qualified Canadian who wishes to go to college or university is prevented due to cost.
“We provide funding, and the federal government could provide more funding,” he says, “therefore, the provinces, or Camosun, for example, would not be required to feel compelled to get more and more foreign students because they use that to float the college in order to allow more Canadian kids to go. That’s got to be job one.”
Rankin (who says that he is going to make sure he holds the Liberals to their goal of creating more jobs for younger people) says that he will hold to some of the student-focused issues that the NDP talked about during the election.
“I’m going to continue to work on some of the priorities we raised in our NDP platform: cracking down on unpaid internships, creating new work through co-op positions, eliminating interest on federal student loans.”
THE JUGGLING ACT
Trudeau talks a lot about helping middle-income families, but for now Camosun Early Childhood Education student Celine Hume is still struggling. She has a two-year-old and brings her newborn, Isla, to class with her every day, because paying for both childcare and school is not an option. She says most of her classes “are spent up and walking around the classroom, trying to keep [Isla] sleeping and happy.”
Still, despite her life/school juggling, she remains upbeat and optimistic, and she knows she is doing what she has to.
“I could very easily see myself falling apart and just not going back to school, but at the same time, there isn’t a choice,” she says. “I mean, Isla was born on the sixth of September, and classes started on the eighth. If I don’t graduate on time, then I can’t have that extra income and provide properly for my children and take the career path that I want to.”
In the meantime, Hume (who has appeared in NDP promotional material) wants to see more from the new government than they have promised.
“As much as I like the idea of increasing grants for students, as rough as it is to say, that’s just not good enough. Even with those grants, you’re still looking at tens of thousands of dollars in student-loan debt. I mean, as a single person with no family, that in itself is daunting, much less with two kids.”
As we’re talking, Isla stirs, and Hume begins to sway her back to sleep.
“It doesn’t make sense that we should have to pay so much for an education,” she says. “I mean, we’re building for our future, making responsible choices for ourselves and for our community. It doesn’t make any sense to me that you should have to choose between having a postsecondary education and having a decent quality of life, or giving your children a decent quality of life. It also doesn’t make sense because in order to pay for the things to have that decent quality of life, you need that postsecondary education. Something has to give.”
As she talks, she grows flustered and red in the face. She understands how imperative these changes are. She looks up to the sky for a moment, gathering herself.
“I would love for the cost of tuition to, if not be eliminated, at least go down, not just for low- and middle-income [students], but for everybody, because education is a right. I don’t think that there should be so much income segregation.”
Despite the stress and doubt that her postsecondary education brings her, Hume still carries with her a large amount of optimism and determination.
“I enjoy the opportunity to be here and have an education,” she says, “and I hope that Isla and my son have the same opportunities when they grow up. I just wish that in the future, it doesn’t have to be such a fight. It seems to be really stereotypical to be the starving studentÉ why are those words associated with being a student? This is a time when our brains are rich and ripe, and we’re so dedicated to our future and bettering ourselves, and yet there are no jobs in your field, or they don’t pay you enough.”
SYSTEMIC WOES
Second-year Associate of Arts student Chad Hartley says that he believes that Canada’s first-past-the-post system is fundamentally flawed.
“If there’s one thing I hope Justin Trudeau holds on to, I hope he changes the electoral system,” says Hartley. “The first-past-the-post system is ridiculous; Harper got in so many times mostly because of non-voters.”
Hartley shakes his head and sighs; his frustration at the system is evident.
“It doesn’t matter how many people vote Green here; it depends on how many ridings get it,” he says. “I knew so many people here that said, ‘I want to vote Green, but they’re obviously not going to win, so I might as well vote NDP.’ But it should be directly proportionate to the amount of votes that party gets.”
Hartley says that he wants to see an increase in the education of registered student voters.
“I want people to be more educated about the electoral system and how our politics work,” he says. “It’s annoying, and it’s shitty, and it’s a nightmare to understand, but once you do, then with very little effort, you can actually go out and very minutely change the world. I want our election system to change to the one that many people think we have, which we don’t.”
Hartley says it’s important to educate people before they are eligible to vote.
“I think that at 15 and 16, society assumes you don’t have the capacity to deal with your future, and that’s just not true. You just don’t have the understanding of the why. All you know is that your parents tell you to do it.”
Camosun student Hume agrees that education is important: she says that hopping on what she calls the “I hate Harper bandwagon” is better than not voting at all, but isn’t too far away from spoiling your ballot.
Camosun College political science prof Mona Brash says that because previous generations had better-paying jobs, they can have a hard time understanding what students are going through today. And while it’s tempting to look to Trudeau’s government to change that, she says there are limitations on what can be done federally versus provincially.
“The boomer generation came through a time where there were lots of good-paying jobs and we went to school, and now lots of people don’t understand how hard it is for young people,” she says. “[Trudeau] has the potential, then, to transfer money for bursaries or scholarships, or something like that, but he can’t intrude on our system, because it’s not his jurisdiction.”
Still, Camosun student Alexander Nadon says that the recent federal election results should be good for students.
“The thing with Harper is that he was coming up with all these taxes, but it was going fucking nowhere,” says Nadon. “At least with Trudeau, they’ll be going toward things that support and help us.”
Camosun second-year Associate of Arts student Christian Callahan says that while he doesn’t have a good grasp of politics, he knows that something needs to be fixed. Maybe with that fix will come more hope for students.
“I admit I’m not the most political creature,” he says. “I don’t really have ideas on how to fix it, but I can see what’s broken.”