The Martlet

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Harper talks education in Victoria campaign stop

A group of students and youth crashed a Conservative Party campaign stop on April 24 to show Prime Minister Stephen Harper that they will be voting in the upcoming election.

The youth were asked by security to wait down the road with their protest signs — which stated issues that were important to them — while Harper participated in a media conference and Easter egg hunt with Conservative party supporters and their children. The event was held at a private home, and media were bussed in from a pre-arranged meeting spot and then asked questions over the fence from an adjoining yard.

Tara Paterson, incoming chairperson of the UVic Students’ Society, said the protesters didn't find out about the campaign stop until the evening before.

“We organized folks to show up to the event and make it known that youth are engaged in this election and we feel many of our issues are being ignored, and so we collected some people and in a bit of a convoy drove down to where the event would be,” she said. “We weren't permitted into the area where Harper was actually speaking to Conservative party supporters so we stood down the street with signs of issues that affect youth, reasons why we are voting this election.”

Paterson said the security at the event was very high.

“The Conservative Party was very respectful but they were apprehensive about our presence, they were very suspicious about our presence,” she said. “And they were very concerned about maintaining a level of security that prevented a high level of engagement.”

There have been several recent incidents concerning students and the Conservative Party recently. During this election, students were removed from Conservative rallies, there was an attempt to have student votes at University of Guelph disqualified, and at the April 24 campaign stop, youth attendees were made to wait down the road. The Martlet asked Harper how he intends to represent students given these recent incidents. In response, Harper spoke to the economics of education.

“We have first and foremost made sure that the Canada social transfer — the transfer to the provinces for the financing of post secondary education — that that has continued to grow and is protected in our fiscal plans through our economic action plan,” said Harper. “We made major investments in colleges and universities to further extend their capacity to provide students with training.”

Harper also suggested his government was best positioned to create an economy that ensured jobs for graduating students, and cast doubt on the promises of other parties.

“In terms of the alternatives, I know other guys are promising big amounts of payments to students — in the case of the Liberal party, thousands of dollars to be financed by cancelling tax breaks that we've brought in for students,” he said. “I always ask students, and I ask everybody to think about the credibility of these promises of thousands and thousands of dollars. The Liberals made them before when they were in office for 13 years they didn't deliver. Their plans don't add up and they're not going to deliver now.”

While Harper didn't directly address the rocky relationship the Conservatives have with students, he did say he is “always willing to meet with students to hear more on their concerns.”

Afterward, Harper met with the protestors outside of media presence.

“From everything we'd heard about Conservative events they were not super open to students or youth, or anyone had had any evidence of being unsupportive of the Conservative Party so I was really surprised that we actually got to talk to him,” said Paterson. “It was very brief but it was exciting nonetheless.”

Six youth were invited into the event, where they got to pose two questions to the Prime Minister.

“When we spoke to Harper there were two primary areas that we were concerned about — education and climate,” said Paterson. “We asked about international climate negotiations and specifically COP 17 is coming up this year. I personally have been very disappointed with Canada's action in Copenhagen for example, and other recent climate negotiations. So we asked about representation there and we also asked about support for student aid programs and education in general.”

Paterson felt Harper dodged both questions.

“The first one [on climate] he spoke about the size of delegations that they plan to send to climate conferences without engaging on the Canadian governments positions or what it will be or would be should he become prime minister again,” she said. “In the second one [on education] he was honest... but he referred to programs that had been included in their last budget that expanded the Canadian student loan program but only specifically for those who have wealthy parents so that more students can qualify for student loans and you're not denied access to the program if your parents are of a higher income bracket, but that does little in terms of covering up front costs and accessibility to university in the first place.”