For Immediate Release
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Students present pre-budget recommendations
HALIFAX – Representatives from the Canadian Federation of Students – Nova Scotia are meeting with the Nova Scotia Liberal Caucus and opposition parties today ahead of the upcoming provincial budget. Students will present a plan for creating safer campuses, making post-secondary education in Nova Scotia more affordable and making it easier for international students to study in the province.
“In the past year, we’ve seen this government allow double digit tuition fee hikes and refuse to combat sexual assault on campus,” said Michaela Sam, Chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students – Nova Scotia. “We’re hopeful that the McNeil government has come to terms with their mistakes of the past year and charts a new course with students in this province.”
The Nova Scotia government continues to block the passing of Bill 114 in the legislature. This Bill would require all post-secondary institutions to have sexual assault policies, to publicly report on cases of sexual assault, to report on the success of their initiatives to combat sexual assault and provide broad support to sexual assault resource centres. The government has also deregulated tuition fees in Nova Scotia, allowing colleges and universities to hike students’ fees by an unlimited amount for an undefined period of time.
Students’ recommendations for the budget include:
• Reducing tuition fees by 15%.
• Restoring public funding to 2011 levels.
• Investing in supports to combat sexualized violence on university and college campuses.
• Covering international students under medical services insurance upon their arrival in Nova Scotia.
• Eliminating the use of unpaid internships in the provincial government.
The provincial budget submission can be viewed online at: cfs-ns.ca/recent-budget-submissions/
The Canadian Federation of Students is the oldest and largest national student organization in Canada, representing over 650,000 college, undergraduate and graduate students across the country.
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For more information:
Michaela Sam, Chairperson, Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia:
(902) 999-4318
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