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Dion becomes billion dollar man in London
The party leader was joined by a large contingent of Liberal hopefuls, including local incumbents London West MP Sue Barnes, London North Centre MP Glen Pearson, and London-Fanshawe candidate Jacquie Gauthier. "In total we are investing $1.2 billion in our country's post-secondary education system," Dion told students and supporters who had gathered inside a research room at the university's North Campus building. The increased funding is critical, Dion said, in order to help more Canadians succeed in the 21st century knowledge economy. Citing Canada's relatively small population of 33 million, Dion said the country must have top class universities with excellent research facilities, and colleges and universities must be affordable for all Canadians, if we are to compete with "economic giants such as China, India, the U.S., and Japan. "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 Dion. Dion outlined the Liberal plan that involved investing in research and revamping tax credits, loans and grants for students. The Liberals propose simplifying support measures for students by replacing complicated and often irrelevant tax credits with a $1,000 education grant that will be delivered to students every three months. "Forget about transferring tax credits to parents," Dion said. The plan also calls for 200,000 needs-based bursaries of up to $3,500 per year by the fourth year to help reduce the number of Canadians for whom education cost act as a barrier, and 100,000 access grants of up to $4,000 per year by the fourth year of a Liberal mandate, geared for those who are members of groups that are traditionally under-represented in post-secondary education, such as the disabled, Dion said. "All students will be eligible for student loans of $5,000 regardless of parental income," he said, adding loans must also be made easier to repay and pledged to work with the provinces to put and end to "punitive interest rates," and extend the grace period after graduation from six months to two years. When all put together, Dion said it equates into a total of $500 million. In addition, Dion said a Liberal government would create an arms-length, 20-year education endowment that will reach the value of $25 billion. "Through this fund the federal government will turn a relatively small investment – a few hundred million dollars a year – into a significant long-term investment in students," Dion said. All liabilities associated with this endowment plan will be matched by an asset, he explained, resulting in no increase to the federal debt. On the research side of the announcement, Dion said innovation and new ideas and processes are key components of productivity and future economic growth. "The direct and indirect funds we invest in research and development today will drive the economy of the future," he said. With a Liberal government, research and development support would include 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. When asked where the Liberals plan to get the money for this post-secondary investment, Dion said Canadians would have to wait until the party unveiled its election platform, but promised they would be prudent. This investment, Dion stressed is vitally important to revive Canada's struggling economy, a struggle he laid firmly in the lap of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "So far this year Canada has the worst performing economy in the G-8. We've had nine consecutive months of falling labour productivity," he said, blaming Harper for what he called the economy hitting a brick wall. "Yesterday, Stephen Harper finally took off his rose-coloured glasses for a brief moment. He said our economy had problems. For once I agree with Stephen Harper – there are problems – one of those problems is Stephen Harper," Dion said. The economy is the reason Harper "rushed us into an election. He is hoping you won't notice that he has mismanaged the economy – that you won't notice it before Election Day." LONDON VOTES: Candidate responses
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| Hmmm... If memory serves me correctly, didn't the Liberals mess up the Canada Student loan program in the first place by shifting the admininstration to the big banks. Say it ain't so. |
| By: S.Peckinpaw on 09/18/2008 |
| This is hilarious. So far Dion has pledged over 4 billion dollars in his campaign. Where does all this money come from anyway? |
| By: bk on 09/19/2008 |
| Dion is a hack if canadians have any sense at all then maybe we will give the green party a chance in this comming election. They are the only party out there that has not screwed us in the past give the greens a chance and im sure this country will be a better place. |
| By: Joseph Smith on 09/19/2008 |
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