With campaigning for the upcoming provincial election underway, the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario (CFS-O) is making another effort to show politicians that students need to be heard.

About 20 student protesters put up yellow caution tape around Queen’s Park Sept. 8, in attempt to convince political parties that they should commit to lowering tuition fees.


The caution tape stunt was part of CFS-O’s “Take It Over” campaign, leading up to the provincial Oct. 6 provincial election.

“The idea was that students were taking over Queen’s Park and that they were cautioning political parties that they need to appeal to student voters and to talk about post-secondary education,” said Sandy Hudson, the chairperson for CFS-O.


The caution tape drew a lot of attention from passersby and from the media, Hudson said.

CFS-O has been organizing events similar to these since June. On the 6th of every month, the organization held an event to remind people of the upcoming election, as well as to draw attention to student issues, Hudson added.


Last month, members of the federation held barbecues throughout Ontario to create some buzz about the high cost of tuition. They raised the prices to reflect how much tuition has gone up in the last decade.

Burgers ended up costing between $15 to $40, depending on whether they represented domestic fee increases or international ones.  


“Needless to say, there weren’t many sales,” Hudson said. “But there were a lot of people who were very interested in how we were portraying the information and found it much easier to understand.”


The CFS-O’s efforts come on the heels of a report released in August by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Tuition in Ontario has increased by more than 244 per cent in the last 21 years, according to the report.

And last year, Statistics Canada reported that while most of Canada saw fees go up, Ontario had the largest increase in 2010-11. The province has the highest fees in Canada, with the average student paying about $6,300 each year.  

The Liberals, the Greens, and the Conservatives have each released platforms with an eye to accommodate students.

If elected, the Green Party of Ontario will freeze tuition fees for the 2012-2013 school year, according to their website.

The Liberals, on the other hand, promised that families who make less than $160,000 a year will get a $1,600 grant per university student, or $730 per college student.


The Conservatives have vowed to accomodate middle-class families who have trouble accessing Ontario Student Assistance Program loans, by cutting $30 million in funding to international PhD students, according to a press release.


Hudson said while these platforms are a good start, she was disappointed the $1,600 grants promised by the Liberals wouldn’t apply to students in professional programs, like medicine, law or social work.

“My question is that if they recognize that it’s difficult to pay for school, then shouldn’t they make tuition more accessible?” she said. “It’s troublesome because even though there’s a grant, fees go up so students are still paying more.”

Hudson said the CFS will continue to encourage students to vote throughout September and October.