What are the province and feds doing to help unemployed students?
Tomorrow, three political ministers will converge upon Toronto’s Humber College for a photo-op. They will sign an agreement, pat each other on the back, and then give non-answers to questions from the media.
The ministers are:
Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development
Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance
John Milloy, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities
This presents a great opportunity to ask what how the two levels of government plan to assist students who can’t find jobs when September arrives. I would also throw out a question or two about why neither level of government is increasing the maximum student loan support considering the cost of education has increased by hundreds of dollars since either level of government cared to look at the support caps.
I’m feeling the squeeze of the recession myself. I pay my own travel expenses when I go to cover stories like this. Hence, I’m unable to cover this news conference and ask the questions myself. But it doesn’t stop student journalists from doing so themselves.
Nothing beats asking a question with both the federal and provincial governments in front of you. It removes their favourite non-answer: ‘It’s the other level of government’s fault!’