{"id":20515,"date":"2021-01-26T09:34:08","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T17:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=20515"},"modified":"2021-01-28T09:13:18","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T17:13:18","slug":"victoria-ndp-mp-laurel-collins-sponsoring-petition-for-student-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2021\/01\/26\/victoria-ndp-mp-laurel-collins-sponsoring-petition-for-student-aid\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria NDP MP Laurel Collins sponsoring petition for student aid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victoria NDP MP Laurel Collins has sponsored a parliamentary e-petition<\/a> that calls on the Canadian government to increase supports for students in light of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The petition, signed by 9,580 people, asks that the government uses the remaining funds from the $9 billion in aid allocated for the Canada Student Services Grant that was originally going to go to WE Charity before that agreement fell apart in scandal<\/a>. It also asks that new graduates be included in employment insurance and the Canada Recovery Benefit program.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Victoria NDP MP Laurel Collins (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also on the list of requests on the e-petition is that the government extends the moratorium on student loan interest and payments until May 1, 2021, with potential for further extensions. It’s also asking that the government expands the Canada Student Services Grant, returns to 50-50 cost sharing with provinces and territories, and increases funding for post-secondary institutions.<\/p>\n

Collins, who has been nominated to run again as the Victoria NDP candidate in the next federal election, calls the federal government\u2019s approach to student loan payments \u201cwoefully inadequate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to absolutely, immediately, end all interest on student loans for good,\u201d says Collins. \u201cNot just for the pandemic. We have to have a serious conversation about the high cost of tuition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins says that costs associated with post-secondary are getting so high that many students\u201439 percent across Canada, according to background information included in the petition\u2014are struggling with necessities like food security.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were already seeing these challenges pre-pandemic,\u201d says Collins. \u201cI was an instructor at the University of Victoria, and I had students come to me talking about how they were trying to balance two or three jobs while in full-time studies, how the cost of rent and food and tuition were so much that they\u2014great students, with such potential\u2014either were having to switch universities or take time off because they couldn\u2019t afford the high cost of living here, along with the high cost of food and the high cost of tuition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having lower-income students excluded from post-secondary simply so the government can make money of the backs of these students is totally unacceptable, says Collins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are losing bright students because of the lack of support; I also think about students who are graduating with really unprecedented debt,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Coming out of school owing sometimes well over $40,000 changes the choices students make and limits their opportunities, says Collins. The pandemic has exacerbated already dire circumstances, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also means that students that come from low-income families pay thousands of dollars more in interest over the course of their loan,\u201d she says. \u201cWhy are we charging lower-income students more to go to university?\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins points out that the WE Charity scandal has almost been forgotten about because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustin Trudeau and the Liberal government moved so quickly to give close to a billion-dollar contract to their friends at WE Charity, and then when they got caught in the scandal, instead of just re-allocating that $900 million to supports for students, we\u2019re just left wondering, where\u2019s that money going?\u201d she says. \u201cWhy not put that into non-repayable grants?\u201d<\/p>\n

The petition will be presented in Parliament this week, and the government will have 45 calendar days to respond to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Victoria NDP MP Laurel Collins has sponsored a parliamentary e-petition that calls on the Canadian government to increase supports for students in light of COVID-19. The petition, signed by 9,580 people, asks that the government uses the remaining funds from the $9 billion in aid allocated for the Canada Student Services Grant that was originally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20515"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20520,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20515\/revisions\/20520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}