The students failed the leader, but he can still do a make-up test

That's right. Prime Minister Stephen Harper scores an "F" in post-secondary priorities, according to the Canadian Federation of Students' 2011 Political Party Report Card.

Luckily, if he improves the Conservative platform, he could take make-up test and get a higher grade before election time.

The NDP and the Liberals obviously cracked the books, with Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff scoring an "A" and "B", respectively.

Unfortunately, it does look the Bloc Québécois and the Green Party forgot to show up for some classes. "Incomplete" for both Gilles Duceppe and Elizabeth May.

Actually, the Canadian Federation of Students based the grades given on the policies developed by member university and college students’ unions. How and what they are based on is listed below in detail.

The Political Party Report Card gives you an overview and analysis of the post-secondary education platforms of the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP, Bloc Québécois and Green Party. Each party was graded in six categories:

• National vision and funding of post-secondary education
• Student debt
• Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education
• Research and Innovation
• Measuring Success
• Copyright Reform

The 2011 Political Party Report Card can be downloaded from www.VoteEducation.ca. Grades can be reassessed based on any announced platform changes.

Platform and Performance: The Rationale
In analyzing the main federal parties, the Canadian Federation of Students relied on the policies developed by member university and college students’ unions. The Federation is strictly non-partisan.

All political parties were treated objectively in the creation of this report card. The five main federal political parties were each sent a questionnaire, asking their plans to address these six issues. All but one of the parties responded to the questionnaire, and each party’s platform and record in government were used along with it to grade the parties. In November 2010, the over 75 member students’ unions of the Federation re-affirmed support for the six major policy initiatives that form the basis of the 2011 federal election political party report card. The specific policies included in the marking scheme are: the creation of a national vision for accessible, high-quality public post-secondary education system, reducing student debt, increasing funding for Aboriginal education, supporting research and innovation, and supporting fair copyright law.

For a variety of reasons, some political parties may not support these initiatives. They are graded accordingly. A grade in this report card is neither an endorsement nor a condemnation. Rather, it is a shifting analysis of party policy designed to help students and their families make sense of promises with the goal of contributing to an informed vote. Parties can easily change their stances (and hence their grades) and, in part, that is the point of this report card. It is incumbent upon a non-partisan student movement to be vocal about the relative strength of candidates’ commitments to public post-secondary education. Policy analysis combined with effective community organizing is the cornerstone of affecting change.

Student Priorities

National vision
The political parties should commit to implementing a federal Post-Secondary Education Act modeled after the principles of the Canada Health Act, accompanied by a dedicated cash transfer with funding allocated to immediately restore per capita funding to 1992 levels; over three years reduce tuition fees to 1992 levels; and over five years eliminate deferred maintenance costs at Canada’s colleges and universities.

Reducing student debt
The parties should commit to increasing the value and number of non-repayable grants available to student by redirecting to the Canada Student Grants Program funds, currently allocated to education-related tax credits and savings schemes, and allowing graduate students to qualify for grants under the Program.

Funding for Aboriginal Education
The parties should commit to removing the funding cap on increases to the Post-Secondary Student Support Program and ensure that every eligible First Nations and Inuit learner is provided adequate funding to pursue post-secondary education.

Measuring Success
The parties should commit to increased funding for the collection and analysis of post-secondary education statistics by Statistics Canada and immediately reinstate the mandatory long-form census.

Support graduate funding and research
Political parties should commit to increase the number of Canada Graduate Scholarships to 3,000, consistent with average growth in the program since 2003, to be distributed proportionally among the research councils according to enrolment figures and increase the base budgets of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Canada Institutes for Health Research.

Copyright
Political parties should commit to reforming the copyright in a balanced manner that ensures students have reasonable access to the works of others, while having their works protected against unjust appropriation. In particular, parties should commit to expanding fair dealing rights and limiting prohibitions on circumventing digital locks to infringing uses.

All images are screen grabs from www.VoteEducation.ca

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