Mr. Speaker, post-secondary education is a national tragedy with tuition rates having risen 126% in the last decade while student debt loads have quadrupled.
Tomorrow a decision will be made on whether my private member's motion on post-secondary education will be deemed votable. The motion would allow students to claim up to 10% of the principal of their Canada student loan annually for a decade as a tax credit provided that they remain in Canada. This motion has received national support from the business community as well as the Canadian Alliance of Students Association, which represents 310,000 post-secondary students. The national director, Liam Arbuckle, stated:
The Liberal Government has listened to us lobby and they agree that changes to post-secondary education need to be made, well now it's time to put their money where their mouth is.
It is high time post-secondary education was deemed a national priority. We must have a public debate in the House on easing the financial burden on students.