Horwath highlights NDP plan for students, young people on London visit

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath was in London Wednesday afternoon meeting with Stuart McHenry and Jody Tomchishen, two young Londoners, about her plan for students and young people.

“Stuart and Jody have tens of thousands of dollars of student debt,” said Horwath. “They are both still in school and still receiving loans to complete their degrees - but they're worried about how they will repay those loans. We need big changes for young people like Stuart and Jody so that they can have a good life in Ontario. We need change that will help them pay back their loans, and ensure that the next generation of young people in Ontario never have to face this burden. That is change for the better.”

Horwath unveiled her party’s platform Monday. The platform includes her vision for students and young people in Ontario, including:

• Any student that qualifies for a provincial student loan will now receive a non-repayable grant instead
• Horwath’s government will stop charging interest on all outstanding loans
• Any interest already paid on an outstanding loan will be retroactively applied to the remaining principle
• Horwath will create 27,000 paid work-integrated learning jobs like co-ops to help students get the experience they need to land their first good job
• A faculty renewal strategy will allow more contract educators to become full-time professors and instructors, and the NDP will invest in more tenure-track faculty positions

“These changes would mean that Stuart and Jody will get help re-paying their loans. It's the right thing to do for young people who have invested in their education,” said Horwath. “Most importantly, it means the next generation of young people in Ontario will not face crushing student debt, and they can start their careers and build their best lives, right here in Ontario.”

Horwath’s platform also includes universal pharmacare — which covers prescription drugs for all Ontarians — dental care for everyone, an investment in 40,000 new long-term care beds, and an end to the hallway medicine crisis that decades of Liberal and Conservative cuts have caused in Ontario’s hospitals.

The fully costed platform can be found at ontariondp.ca/platform.