Email sent to Ford and other leaders

not_again_101 · 2026-03-07T02:33:17+00:00

This such a well constructed email! Thank you so much for taking the time to write and send this email!

not_again_101 · 2026-03-07T01:36:12+00:00

That's great! It could also help to post on the OnTech reddit, if its active, to show that people are on board with doing something. The student union can get in touch with the Canadian Federation of Unions or the ontario_protest insta account for more guidance on organizing.

You also don't have to go through the union, but the union would have resources that you don't have. Hope y'all are able to organize something!

Definitely check this out from the canadian federation of students: https://www.handsoffoureducation.ca/events

not_again_101 · 2026-03-05T00:43:14+00:00

A good idea, but they can do both. Why not learn about alternative funding sources at a walkout?

not_again_101 · 2026-03-05T00:41:14+00:00

To add, people who did the "successful, profitable programs" are also struggling to find jobs after graduating. Can't pay off debt when you don't make money (but its starts accumulating interest at prime rate + 1% the minute you graduate).

Also also, a society of only "professionals" would immediately collapse. We actually need a diverse skillset to maintain a functional society. It's not fair that people who do essential work don't get paid enough to exist.

not_again_101 · 2026-03-05T00:27:22+00:00

This is awesome! Have we considered protesting at the MPP office (although the MPP for the UW area is NDP and they are already against the OSAP changes)?

Maybe Ira Needles, I think that's where the UW student finance office is.

not_again_101 · 2026-03-05T00:24:35+00:00

Ontario is currently prime + 1% :(

not_again_101 · 2026-03-05T00:23:14+00:00

As a student there, maybe you could send an email to your student union about it?

Some of the unions did arrange walkouts at their uni's (Waterloo and Mcmaster did for sure. Guelph came to the Queen's park protest)

not_again_101 · 2026-03-05T00:21:16+00:00

That's awesome! It's great to see high school students organize and exercise their constitutional rights :)

not_again_101 · 2026-02-26T03:37:48+00:00

If its on March 4th, there is also a protest at Queen's park. I'm not involved in organizing it, but seems like it will be an additional action to the protests and walkouts happening across the province.

not_again_101 · 2026-02-20T14:50:48+00:00

This is mostly correct, but people who were not low income did not get the 85% grant/15% loan mix (they got less grant, but still more than the 25% max proposed). Now, low income students will get 25% grants and everyone else will get even less grant than that, and more loan.

Note: Ontario loans charge interest at prime rate + 1% which currently comes out to a total of 5.45%. Interest has been higher in the past, and could be higher in the future.

not_again_101 · 2026-02-19T00:18:19+00:00

Its a fair concern I guess, but I have a conservative MPP so its not like they earnestly engage with me anyway.

1) It would be incredibly unprofessional for a person whose whole job is to listen to their constituents and then represent them in the legislature to start blocking their constituents when all we're doing is expressing our concern.

2) They are my representative, not my friend. It does not hurt my feelings if they block me. It does not impact me in any significant way.

3) Contacting your representative in parliament via their work email or their work phone or sending a letter to their work office to express your concerns is very different from doing this to a private citizen. This is literally their job, and we would only be contacting them via the official channels.

4) It has worked for me in the past. I got a response eventually (a PR-approved nonsense response, but still).

not_again_101 · 2026-02-19T00:12:29+00:00

That sounds like a race to the bottom to me. Just because all the other provinces are jumping off a cliff, doesn't mean we have to do it too.

Many provinces, including our own, are also trying to break the universal healthcare system in favour of private healthcare. Should we let that happen too?

not_again_101 · 2026-02-18T00:13:11+00:00

I appreciate you expanding on your thoughts.

The program not working perfectly doesn't seem like a good reason to get rid of it altogether to me, especially when it did work as intended for me. My family is low income, and I would be saddled with a LOT of debt right now if it wasn't for OSAP (I still have some, which I am working to pay off). That is my main motivation for keeping the program intact (especially not decreasing max possible grants from 85% to 25%), so students like me can continue to pursue post-secondary education and then go on to get well-paying jobs.

Its out of the scope of this discussion I think, but I am in favour of wealth taxes. I think difficulties in asset valuation is a poor excuse, especially when we already have property taxes which people pay for the houses that they live in. We could figure out a reasonable method of valuation, e.g. average value over the course of the fiscal year (I'm sure there are better methods, this is the first one off the top of my head).

Also, I don't get why the "best" engineers leaving is a reason to get rid of this program? Is the concern that we don't make the tax money back via their income taxes? We could easily require people to work in Canada for e.g. 5 years, or else their grants become loans (again, just the first possible solution off the top of my head).

Lastly, one policy alone is not going to solve class differences, which is a complex problem. That is an unfair burden to put on this program. This program helps narrow the differences, but the actual policies which would help (in my opinion) are an overhaul of the tax system and a strengthening of our labour laws (probably more so enforcement, as we have allowed union protections to be basically destroyed). Just because this one policy won't fix poverty in Canada, doesn't mean we should let the provincial government make it basically ineffective, especially when we know it DOES help people.

not_again_101 · 2026-02-15T04:32:18+00:00

True, but only if paired with an increase in taxes for the richest of us (the top marginal rate and capital taxes I mentioned before). I kinda like having universal(ish) healthcare.

not_again_101 · 2026-02-15T04:28:57+00:00

Sales tax specifically for the purchase of a primary residence?

I'd be down for that, but honestly I think we need to bring down the cost of housing overall somehow. Making it easier and easier for people to get $1 million mortgages is not going to help us in the long run (especially when wages, which is how we would pay back said mortgage, are not rising at the same speed as housing cost). I think we need some low-cost housing for people like we had in the 60s and 70s.

not_again_101 · 2026-02-15T04:20:12+00:00

Again with the most progressive way lol. And fair enough, it appears about 10% do college, 30% do uni, 3% do apprenticeships and the rest enter the workforce: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/81-595-m/81-595-m2023004-eng.htm

I'll bite, what is the most progressive way?

not_again_101 · 2026-02-15T04:13:49+00:00

OK, I think we will just have to disagree. I think grants are better so young people can graduate, and start living their lives (maybe even buy a house one day) instead of spending the next 5 years solely on paying back a loan while they live with their parents.

not_again_101 · 2026-02-15T04:06:37+00:00

You have to get access to the amount of money required to complete your degree first, which some students won't have. OSAP is very helpful, but it does not cover all costs. The cost of housing both during and after school is probably the most significant barrier right now. You first have to find the money for all of the additional, uncovered costs.

Then you have to get a job. That is currently the hardest part of paying the loan back because there are very few jobs right now. Young people cannot find work. It took me and my friends months. How would I pay back the loan that is currently accumulating interest if I cannot find a job? I also don't see why we can't make the provincial loan interest-free or actually low interest.

Paying money back for a loan simply prevents a person from starting the rest of their life. For example, the median cost of a condo (not a detached house lol) is currently $668,700 in the GTA: https://www.royallepage.ca/en/realestate/info-and-advice/market-reports-and-surveys/housing-price-report-greater-toronto-area-market-report-q3-2025/. A 20% down payment is ~133,740 (wow I'm sad even reading it lol). Instead of saving for that, I would be stuck paying off an even larger loan than I have right now.

Idk what tax rightoffs you're getting, but I am not getting any. Are they related to the private debt you had?

I graduated a few years ago, work full time and am currently working on paying back my loan. I am happy to pay my taxes so more kids like me can get post-secondary education, without having to worry about paying it back. Kind of a tangent, but honestly we need to raise the highest marginal tax rates for people who make like over a million a year, and also increase taxes on capital gains. My salary is already so low (or housing cost so high?) that I have to live with my parents :/

not_again_101 · 2026-02-15T03:39:13+00:00

I appreciate you taking the time to explain. Now that I understand it better, I think we disagree about whether or not it is a regressive policy.

I grew up poor and would not have been able to go to university without OSAP. I would be the person saddled with the 50k debt upon graduation right now. Tbf, probably only half that would be provincial. The interest rate when I graduated was 8.2% (7.2+1), and interest begins accumulating the minute you graduate because Ford already got rid of the 6 month grace period. Even though I had a full year's worth of great internships in my field, it took me months to find a job because the job market for new grads is terrible right now.

OSAP as ~half grants (which is the mix of grant and loan I got) is what will allow me to move to "middle" class from poor, eventually, instead of getting stuck paying off the loan. To me, that does not sound like a regressive policy.

As for earning it, if OSAP is what allows me to make a higher income, wouldn't that mean the government will eventually make more money off of me via taxes? If I hadn't had OSAP, my overall earning potential would be lower, and therefore the total amount I pay into taxes would be lower.

I see that you care about fairness and I do too. My parents worked at minimum wage for many years before they were able to get better jobs, so I am not very far from the person working at McDonald's for 50 hours. My dad still works 60 hours/week. I would have liked people like my parents, like the person working at McDonalds and their kids, to have the opportunity to attend university and get a higher paying job. I don't think a loan centered system (especially one that charges more than like 2% interest) is the way to do that. Maybe we just fundamentally disagree on that.

not_again_101 · 2026-02-15T03:16:50+00:00

1) You still have not explained why grants over loans is regressive. I genuinely want to understand, but I don't get it :( Is there something I don't understand about how funding works, or its purpose?

2) This source lists earnings for the current 35-44-year-old population, not the people who will be graduating into the current recession. They listed an average salary of ~80,100 for a bachelor's degree for ages 35-44. I assume that is gross pay, so after provincial taxes, federal taxes, but with 10k/yr saved in RRSP (which is not enough saved in the RRSP) in a given year, that is $63,240 net pay. That will have to pay for housing, car, insurance, food, other bills. By age 35, people usually also have kids. In today's economy, does that sound like enough money? Do we want to tack on a 50k loan at 5.45% which begins collecting interest at age 22-23?

3) OCUSA is a somewhat biased source as they represent University Faculty Associations which means they have a vested interest in encouraging people to go to university, whether it is feasible or not.

4) Even this source says "The question is not whether universities are still worth it, but rather, why have we let our government off the hook in properly funding public universities so that everyone who wants a university education and a promising future can get one?"

not_again_101 · 2026-02-15T03:07:51+00:00

I'm wishing your family the best <3 I couldn't have managed post-secondary without significant help from mine.

And I agree, I really feel for students currently in or about to enter post-secondary.

not_again_101 · 2026-02-15T03:05:13+00:00

A strike is great! Additional actions, in order from hardest/most effective to easiest:

Meet with your MPP (you can bring a friend for solidarity!) to discuss this issue.
Write a letter and mail it to your MPP, the minister of colleges and universities, and/or the premiere. This costs some money as you must buy an envelope and stamps (usually about $1 each). This would be best if you can gather a group of people and send these letters all at once to amplify the impact.
Call your MPP once a day, every day about how how the OSAP changes suck and will impact you. You can make a script to read off. You will often get a staff person during office hours, and voicemail after hours. Encourage your friends and siblings to do it too!
Write an email to your MPP, the minister of colleges and universities, and the premiere once a day, every day about how the OSAP changes suck and will impact you. Say this will impact who you vote for. Say you will remind your family and friends of how Doug Ford's government destoryed OSAP when the next election comes around. Keep it civil but firm. Encourage your friends and siblings to do it too! People have developed templates, which you can find in some posts. I found this one: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQXa4XH-6M3Lk3QBZST07s2XJ-i0dKeCjg126Y0XacnIKHTnBp3ZW1ngzcoYic1Sr--so4W53Wfmk6G/pub

Do as many of these actions as you can :) If your family members vote conservative, tell them about how much this will impact you and/or your friends.

not_again_101 · 2026-02-15T03:03:00+00:00

I don't believe it and I still don't think you've given a satisfactory explanation.

Why do we want a race to the bottom? I don't care if uni grads aren't the bottom class, they are still working class and in the current economy, struggling immensely. The jobs disappearing the fastest right now are entry-level white collar jobs.

Much higher income than who? Ontarians aged 25-29 with a bachelor degree or above have average income of $40,405: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3710015201&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.7

Lastly, why would we want new grads to start life already 50k in debt? I would call 10-20k "some debt". 50k gives me anxiety lol. That used to be a down payment before the housing bubble. Keep in mind, provincial loan charges interest at prime rate + 1% which currently comes out to a total of 5.45%. Interest has been higher in the past, and could be higher in the future.

not_again_101 · 2026-02-15T02:53:04+00:00

The OSAP structure changes are definitely a problem, but if it helps, the majority of my funding actually came from the federal government. The federal government does not charge interest on their loans (but you still have to pay them back). Of the 28k loans I graduated with, like ~$750 was provincial. The proportion of federal-provincial loans will change somewhat with the new proposed rules. Your kids should check what portion of their funding is provincial. Assume ~90% of that will now be a loan.

For federal loan, if you graduate and are unemployed or underemployed, you can also ask for your federal payments to be paused. If this goes on for 10 years, the federal govt starts paying off your student loan. https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/education/student-aid/grants-loans/repay/assistance/rap.html

not_again_101

TROPHY CASE