Brace yourselves: it’s coming. Our pesky little democratic system is rearing its ugly head once again, asking you to vote in the October 6 provincial election. The good news is, after this one, you’ll be free from the duty for a few years. So just do it. If you’re super busy on Thursday, get to an advance poll when you can and while you’re at it, you should know it is in your best interest to vote for the Liberal party, led by Premier Dalton McGuinty. Obviously we’re all incredibly busy, but there are a lot of important issues to consider.
As students, tuition fees, jobs, and the economy are first and foremost in our minds. We’re spending a lot of money to get these fancy degrees and we need them to guarantee us decent paycheques when graduation day comes, just as many of us need decent jobs in the meantime to cover our expenses. So what will the Liberal party do for you? On January 2012 they plan to implement a lovely little tuition grant to reduce fees by 30 per cent for students with family incomes up to $160,000, which garners a $1,600 reduction each year for us university students and $730 for college students. Five out of six Ontario students will qualify, and we will enjoy the reduction right away. It’s always great to be able to savour the fruits of your labour sooner rather than later. Vote Liberal on October 6 and your effort will be rewarded.
I loathe negativity in election campaigns, for it’s far better to focus on solid policies and strength in leadership than to talk a lot of mean talk that proves nothing at the end of the day. The NDP definitely deserve respect for not engaging in attack ads, but at the same time, sadly, these ads work. Our consumer culture has made us susceptible to manipulation. Therefore it is incredibly important to focus on the substance of political platforms, and the Liberals definitely perform well in that department. Just in quick comparison, the NDP platform assures a freeze on tuition fees at their current level, no reduction, and the Progressive Conservatives promise funding for 60,000 more students, which the Liberals did in their March 2011 budget anyway.
In their last eight years of governance, the Liberals have already added 200,000 postsecondary spaces, re-instituted up-front grants, doubled student aid, improved the graduation rate and helped more students get a job within six months of graduating. Awesome. As McGuinty said, they’ve “made education a top priority. And today, we have the highest postsecondary education attainment rate among all 34 OECD countries. But there is more to do.” Considering their results in helping students to date, imagine what more can be done in four years.
When the party heads got together to duke it out in the leaders debate, nothing overly exciting happened. McGuinty stuck to what he knows and what he has done, which was not a bad plan – an Ipsos Reid poll found 33 per cent of Ontarians thought he won, with 29 per cent feeling NDP leader Andrea Horwath won and 25 per cent thinking it was PC leader Tim Hudak. For the past 8 years Liberal policies have served Ontario well, so we can trust they will continue to do so. The party plans to create 50,000 new jobs in clean energy and take 10 per cent off the cost of electricity bills from the new Clean Energy Benefit, more measures that will directly benefit you, and show their dedication to the environment.
As the legendary band, Trooper, sang, “we’re here for a good time, not a long time.” So guarantee yourself a good time, and maybe even a longer one, by voting Liberal. They will help you with tuition fees, finding gainful employment, and making sure Ontario progresses with green environmental initiatives to protect this lovely province in which we reside.
