Saskatchewan Green Party has proposed to reduce post-secondary tuition fees to zero and introduce a statutory holiday if they are elected government in the next provincial election.
Victor Lau, leader of the Saskatchewan Green Party, says the zero tuition policy would allow graduates to become more productive citizens and allow them to make big ticket purchases, like houses, sooner.
According to Stats Canada, undergraduate students in Canada paid $5,138 dollars in tuition fees from 2010 to 2011. Tuition price for Canadian undergraduates increased 4 per cent from the previous year.
“The Green Party of Saskatchewan hope voters in the provincial election will use this opportunity to tell their local candidates that it is a time to end the debt slavery of university graduate,” said Lau.
Undergrads in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador pay tuition fees almost half the national average.
“If Mexico can provide free tuition to its post-secondary students, then why not Saskatchewan?” said Lau.
The Saskatchewan government offers a 20-thousand dollar tuition reimbursement grant to university graduates that work in the province for seven years after graduation.
The Green Party has also proposed a new statutory holiday for Saskatchewan, which would make June 21st National Aboriginal Day.
Voters in Saskatchewan head to the polls November 7th.
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