The government of Canada has released its budget plan for 2022, and not everybody is happy about it. The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), which all Camosun College students are paying members of, is disappointed with the outcome, saying that this was a missed opportunity for Canada to invest in the future of the country: its students.
CASA board of directors chair Christian Fotang says that while the budget did show some positive initiative, students were, for the most part, let down.
“There was some stuff in the budget that we would commend and we’re pleased to see in terms of the investments in research, but overall we thought that this budget was really a missed opportunity to see some direct investments in students that would benefit them, and increase access and affordability in post-secondary education in our country,” he says.
Fotang says that the government should have committed financial allocations to helping students recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and says that, without assistance, students may be unable to make significant steps forward because of the debt incurred from their post-secondary education.
“We’ve been particularly hit hard, especially through the impacts of this pandemic; it’s come at the detriment of many students’ mental health, especially the issues of inflation, the rising cost of living… These things have really affected students’ choices on whether they wanted to continue to choose to seek a post-secondary education or take on more debt that will weigh them down once they graduate,” he says. “Right now, we’re looking for investments from the federal government that will enable [students] to make those choices that will benefit them… These are very difficult choices that once you’re weighed down by tens of thousands of dollars of debt, you’re really not going to make, because you’re worried about the future, worried about that debt burden.”
Fotang points to Budget 2021, where the federal government took steps such as doubling Canada student grants and sponsoring more work-integrated learning opportunities for students, as a positive example.
“That was a huge step in the right direction of the federal government letting students know that, ‘We see your problems, we hear you, we have your backs,’” says Fotang, but he points out that the Liberals have so far failed to meet their campaign promises, such as eliminating federal loan interest accumulation and increasing the income threshold for loan repayments.
“These were things that were applauded by student advocates across the country, and these are things that were highly anticipated by us, and we were kind of waiting to see that commitment to those investments,” says Fotang, adding that CASA will continue to hold the government accountable. “It’s like, letting them know, ‘We see what you’re doing, we see the decisions, and we’re still watchdogs making sure you’re holding up on the promises you’re doing.’”
When asked what should have been cut from the 2022 budget in order to accommodate the desired allocations, Fotang declined to comment.
“Our role is not to really tell the government what they should have cut; our role is to advocate on behalf of students and let them know… what students are going through, and these are the investments you can make that will most support students, and make them be able to access post-secondary education,” he says.
Although disappointed with the 2022 budget, Fotang says that he’s still optimistic for the future and hopes to see more positive changes soon.
“We really saw this budget as a missed opportunity to begin making those decisions that will take access to post-secondary in the right direction, but it’s not all doom and gloom,” he says. “We’re still optimistic, we think that whether it’s in Budget 2023 or whether this fall economic statement, that there are still going to be good things that can still come out of this.”