With 2016 being the first full year of power for a Justin Trudeau government keen on change, some experts said they are skeptical the new majority government will immediately live up to its promises for more jobs and grants for students.
The prime minister made a number of student-related promises in the lead up to October’s election, including the creation of a youth committee to consult with the government on youth-related matters, increasing student grants, and allowing students to delay paying off their debt.
“Student issues will be pushed to the bottom of the pile,” said Carleton University journalism professor Chris Waddell. “Governments rely on the oil industry and the money that goes with it, but it’s not getting better.”
The country might have faced an economic recession for most of 2015, according to the Bank of Canada. For students, this means fewer jobs available on the market after graduation.
Trudeau promises the creation of 40,000 new jobs for students annually. However, there has been no mention by the prime minister on the sectors where these new jobs will be created and whether it will be temporary or permanent.
Instead, the government has focused its efforts on lessening the burden of student debt. The new government had made a promise during the election to increase the Canada Student Grant by $3,000 a year for students
At the same time, the grant is set to become more accessible to students from middle- and lower-income families.
Just one-third of all students who graduated in 2010 had repaid their student debts three years after their graduation, a Statistics Canada report showed.
The study also shows the majority of students were left with $26,000 in debt and few jobs in their fields three years after graduation.
Carleton criminology student Arsalan Asif, said he thinks increasing the amount a student can borrow is not a good enough solution.
“The government should be investing into the people and the future and not their bank accounts,” he said. His own loans total more than $22,000 for just two years of university.
Asif proposed the Trudeau government should decrease the interest on student loans. To him, this plan will allow for slower growth on loans and make it easier for struggling students to pay it off.
The Liberals proposed delaying repayment of student debt until graduates are earning at least $25,000 a year.
However, post-secondary education is under the direct control of the provinces, so the federal government can only do so much more to address student debt.
Alex Usher, president of consulting firm Higher Education Strategy Associates, said he thinks the grant increase will happen eventually.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt they will do it. It’s been incorporated in various ministers’ mandate letters,” Usher explained, adding he thinks this is more likely to be in place in the fall of 2017.
[infogram id=”_/DXRdfETkqiREEAh7cmaq” prefix=”59F” format=”interactive” title=”Liberal Party Youth Promises 2015″]The grant, if implemented, would make university and college more affordable to the rising number of enrolled students. In 2013, Statistics Canada reported two million people are now attending Canadian post-secondary institutions up from 1.8 million in 2012.
At the same time, Trudeau designated himself Minister of Youth, but Usher said this doesn’t necessarily mean the prime minister will put those duties first.
“Usually, when a prime minister takes a ministerial load like that, it’s a symbolic nod to the importance of an issue,” Usher said. “Traditionally, the Minister of Youth does very little.”
To Waddell, 2016 will be a deciding time on whether the new government can live up to any of their promises.
“Talking is talking,” he said. “We have to see now who is going to pay for things.”
