Social Policy in Ontario

Where do the federal election candidates stand on postsecondary education?

Posted on April 22, 2025 in Education Debates

Source: UniversityAffairs.ca — Authors: Hannah Liddle

UniversityAffairs.ca – News
April 01, 2025.   By Hannah Liddle

Here’s a rundown of each party’s platform on higher education.

On April 28, Canadians will go to the polls to vote for the next federal government. The parties are now in a sprint campaign, making their case to lead the country through a tumultuous time with a trade war — exacerbating the ongoing affordability crisis — and threats to Canadian sovereignty by the Trump administration. To learn where each party stands on postsecondary education, according to their platforms and statements from party leaders during the campaign, see the list below, which will be updated weekly throughout the election.

Liberal Party of Canada 

Under the new leadership of Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Liberal Party would:

• Provide $10 billion in low-cost financing and capital to affordable home builders. Of this amount, $2 billion will be allocated to developing new student housing in partnership with the provinces.

• Invest $100 million over four years to attract leading researchers to Canadian institutions through a Canadian Sovereignty and Resilience Research Fund. Eligible researchers could include professors and graduate students and researchers whose U.S. funding has been cut and are working on projects that could directly benefit Canada, according to the platform.

• Invest $108 million over two years in Indigenous postsecondary education to improve access to education for First Nations, Inuit and Metis students, including investments in the Inuit Nunangat University and the First Nations University of Canada.

• Create a capstone organization to “ensure the federal granting agencies are driving mission-driven research.”

• Invest $750 million over two years into medical schools and residency positions. The Liberals would also recruit health researchers, increase funding for research grants and infrastructure at hospitals and other health care institutions.

• Invest $311.7 million in Canada Summer Jobs in 2025-26 and $198.3 million over two years in the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy.

• Expand the mandates, “where appropriate”, for the Student Work Placement Program, the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, Canada Summer Jobs and the Canadian Service Corps.

• Invest $20 million over two years into postpartum maternal health which includes sexual and reproductive health research for women and the 2SLGBTQI+ community

• Invest $46 million over four years to expand Canada’s AI institutions that connect researchers and startups to increase commercialization of AI of research

• Create a scholarship for francophone students who continue their postsecondary studies in French in a minority context.

Conservative Party of Canada 

Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre released his platform on April 22, with no mention of postsecondary institutions.

According to the Conservative Party’s policy declarations on its official website, a Conservative government would:

• End to the “imposition of woke ideology” in the federal civil service and in the allocation of federal funds for university research

• Incentivize federal funding to universities that have “implemented the Chicago Principles” to “protect free speech on campus.” Failure to protect free expression “would result in losing federal funding.”

• Implement a “competitive review process with enhanced transparency and accountability” to determine Tri-Council grant recipients and “restore merit” by directing hiring practices associated with research funding “away from ideology.”

• Create a single authority for distribution of research funding.

• Create a Chief Scientist modeled on the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology in the U.K. to advise the government and coordinate science policy nationally and internationally.

• Create an independent Canada Education Transfer targeted at postsecondary education. It would be funded at a base level, to be negotiated with the provinces, and increase annually according to inflation and demographic growth.

• Support a three-year prohibition on embryonic research and ensure the federal government “encourage[s] the granting agencies to focus on more promising adult (post-natal) stem cell research.” The party wants federal regulation in assisted human reproduction and related research that would “respect human individuality, integrity, dignity and life.”

• Introduce income-contingent repayment for federal student loans following graduation.

• Make interest on student lines of credit tax-deductible.

• Build a system for recognizing international credentials by implementing equivalency exams, creating criteria for equivalent Canadian professional statuses and investing in bridging programs.

New Democratic Party 

The NDP, under leader Jagmeet Singh, would:

• Match funding to the provinces and postsecondary institutions for the construction of affordable student housing.

• Coordinate the allocation of study permits to postsecondary institutions that have a “credible and affordable” student housing plan.

• Incentivize partnerships between business, nonprofits and postsecondary institutions to convert office spaces for dormitory-style student housing

• Forgive up to $20,000 of federal student debt.

• Place a moratorium on student loan payments and give graduates five years before requiring initial payments.

• Commit to working towards tuition-free postsecondary education.

• Invest in Northern Ontario’s medical schools in rural, remote and underserved communities and train more doctors from the North

• Support French-language postsecondary institutions such as Université de Hearst and Collège Boréal

Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois, led by Yves-Francois Blanchet would:

• Fund an intensive recruitment effort for Americans in cutting-edge research fields, including artificial intelligence, biomedical and cleanteach.
• Support the implementation of a Canadian quantum strategy that recognizes Quebec’s role in advancing quantum technology.
• Redistribute federal research funding for more balance between regions. The BQ noted that 12 of Canada’s 15 largest research institutions are outside of Quebec.

• Reinvest in research and development to improve productivity and competitiveness given the global trade war.

• Support French-language research and publications.

• Provide funding for the province, colleges and universities for student housing initiatives.

• Collaborate with the province to narrow the parameters around international student immigration without compromising the regional university model.

• Promote freedom of expression and oppose censorship, the exclusion of public debate, and restrictions on topics discussed in public spaces, “particularly in universities, the media and legislative assemblies.”

• Advocate for increased federal transfer to the provinces. The BQ believes education should be the area of exclusive provincial jurisdiction.

The Green Party of Canada

Co-led by Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault, the Green Party would:

• Cancel federal student loan debt and abolish tuition for postsecondary institutions. The party says this would cost $10.2 billion annually.

• Budget $10 billion to support postsecondary schools with “mentorship, student-professor contact, inclusive policies and tenure-track hires.”

• Double and triple the quotas for PhD and master’s scholarships, respectively.
• Support postsecondary schools in minority-language communities.

Hannah Liddle is the assistant editor for University Affairs.

https://universityaffairs.ca/news/where-do-the-federal-election-candidates-stand-on-postsecondary-education/

Tags: budget, Education, featured, ideology, jurisdiction

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