Ontario students rally for lower tuition
06.11.2008 17:03
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- Source: cbc.ca
 Hundreds of students marched past Parliament Hill on Wednesday to call for Ontario to lower tuition fees.(CBC)Students held rallies and marches across Ontario on Wednesday, demanding lower tuition fees and more provincial funding for post-secondary education. In Ottawa, police estimated that more than 700 university, college and high school students showed up for a march through downtown that was expected to cause traffic disruptions along its route from the University of Ottawa, past Parliament Hill to the Human Rights Monument on Elgin Street until early afternoon. Similar events were scheduled for 12 other cities, including Toronto, Kingston, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, London, Orillia and Guelph. Catherine Giroux-Bougard, chair of the Canadian Federation of Students, said tuition fees have increased at an average rate four times higher than inflation. The climb has been particularly steep for professional programs such as the law program Premier Dalton McGuinty completed in 1981. Giroux-Bougard said at that time, tuition fees were $700 a year, meaning that McGuinty could work at a minimum wage of $3 an hour for six weeks in the summer in order to cover them. "Now tuition fees for law programs can be up to $20,000, so you'd have to work at minimum wage 58 weeks to be able to afford to go to law school," she added. According to Statistics Canada, the average undergraduate tuition in Ontario in 2008-09 was $5,643, or $919 above the Canadian average. Seamus Wolfe, vice-president of university affairs for the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, said in a statement that investing in post-secondary education is investing in Ontario's economy. RelatedInternal LinksInteractive map: Tuition feesPersonal finance: Tuition feesExternal LinksStatistics Canada: University tuition fees(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window) Consumer HeadlinesForget herbicides, weed-whackers: get some goats, study saysMunicipalities across the country should consider swapping herbicides for goat herds to control weeds on environmentally sensitive lands, a B.C. study has concluded.Generic drug maker loses case in Canada's top courtThe Supreme Court of Canada has rejected an attempt by a Toronto-based generic drug maker to prevent brand-name pharmaceutical companies from patenting specific parts of previously patented medicines.Cape Breton distillery toasts scotch shortageNova Scotia's only distiller is hoping to cash in on a worldwide craving for fancy whisky that's leaving shelves bare across Canada.New U.S. figures show labour troubles aheadNew U.S. figures released Thursday point to growing labour pains as Christmas looms. Rise in commercial building permits offsets fall in housing sector: StatsCanMunicipalities issued $6.5 billion worth of building permits in September — an increase of 13.4 per cent over the previous month, Statistics Canada said Thursday. Consumer Life FeaturesENERGYElectric trucksVancouver's Envia aims to energize fleet vehicles CONSUMERAuto salesHow to avoid car buyers' remorseSAFETYRecalls and AdvisoriesBLOGFood BytesTightening the belt before dinnerMOBILE TECHNOLOGYNotebook computersCheap versus chic laptopsCOMM-ODDITIESAuctionOzark cave owner turns to eBay in search of a bidderPeople who read this also read …
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