Mr. Orazietti: Do the honourable thing and tell the truth. Thanks, Derek

SooToday.com received the following letter from faithful reader Derek Miller in response to yesterday's announcement from the Ontario Liberal Party regarding postsecondary tuition fee reductions.

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Mr. Orazietti,

I am extremely disappointed in the recent announcement by Glen Murray of the governing Liberal Party of Ontario about the tuition breaks for Ontario students.

I am 31 and currently in post secondary school trying to make a better life for myself.  

I am attending the same school, listening to the same teachers, buying the same books, and in the same classroom as students who are receiving this rebate.  

I fail to be eligible for this tuition reduction.

As the article on Canoe.ca states: "It is available only to full-time undergraduate students whose families earn $160,000 a year or less, and the students must be no more than four years out of high school."

Our democratic society is based on freedom of discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

How does "no more than four years out of high school" not fall under discrimination based on age?  

I highly doubt that there will be many people who are eligible for this rebate would be over their mid-twenties.  

I fail to see how this “rebate” upholds that value of democracy.

I also see that there is an article on SooToday.com

It is stated within that article that David Orazietti, MPP announced today: “The province is making post secondary education significantly more affordable for Sault Ste. Marie's students and families with an across-the-board 30 percent reduction in tuition for college and university students.”

This is simply not true.  

In the same article, it states the same restrictions for eligibility.  

In the canoe article I referenced above, Sandy Hudson claims the grant “will reach just over 300,000 of Ontario's more than 900,000 students.”

This is far less than the “across the board” that Mr. Orazietti claims.

Less than 50 percent of the students will be able to receive this “across-the-board 30 percent reduction.”

I am currently holding down a job while I attend school and paying my way trying to avoid the student loans that would burden my future.

I also fail to understand how a campaign promise of "a reduction of tuition rates" morphed into this current rebate idea of which I am not able to receive, while you still claim that the province is making post secondary education significantly more affordable for Sault Ste. Marie's students.

It is certainly not an across the board reduction and it is certainly not benefiting all students.

I am a student in Sault Ste. Marie and my tuition did not decrease to make it “more affordable” for myself, so please refrain from saying it helps us when it clearly doesn't.

I hope David Orazietti and the Liberal Party of Ontario retract your original statement and do the honourable thing and tell the truth.

Regards,

Derek Miller

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