The first cut was the deepest
The federal government has restored most of the $55-million cut from the Student Summer Job Program last fall. The newly-renamed Canada Summer Jobs, with a budget of $85.9 million, will still see a funding drop of $11.6 million. Most of the cuts were funds earmarked for corporations. The program subsidizes the entire wage of non-profit organization workers, but only half of the provincial minimum wage for the public and private sector workers.
Critics are only partially satisfied. Denise Savoie, NDP critic for human resources, said that the new criteria will still eliminate some summer jobs. Canadian Federation of Students chairperson Amanda Aziz said that students and the public should be consulted before further changes are made.
“Summer jobs are not a luxury-they pay the bills,” Aziz said.
Always Coca-Cola?
At the University of Alberta, 57 per cent of students voted in favour of extending Coca-Cola’s exclusive vending agreement to 2015. The “Yes” campaign focused on financial issues-the agreement provides $524,377 annually.
The “No” campaign cited Coca-Cola’s unethical practices, including environmental and human rights abuses. They also pointed out that the student union only directly receives $50,000 of those revenues.
“It seems as though students’ votes are basically being bought by Coca-Cola,” complained a “No” campaign manager.
-Jane Bao.
