PLATFORM: New Democratic Party of Canada

A compilation of the NDP’s post-secondary promises New Democrat Party leader Jack Layton. (Photo by Alex Smyth/The Fulcrum)

OTTAWA (CUP) — Post-secondary announcements from the New Democratic Party of Canada will be tracked here throughout the campaign.

Lowering tuition fees

In their platform, released April 10, the NDP pledged to lower tuition fees through a dedicated $800-million transfer to the provinces, as laid out in their previously proposed post-secondary education act.

Financial assistance

The NDP also promised to increase funding to the Canada Student Loans Program in the form of $200 million annually, while also “targeting accessibility for Aboriginal, disabled and low-income students, in particular.”

The party explained it would also raise the education tax credit to $5,760 per year, up from the current $4,800, to help offset education costs.

Medical and nursing students

Mainly to address the shortage of healthcare workers, the NDP would seek to train 1,200 new doctors over the next 10 years and 6,000 nurses over the next six years and would also work with the provinces and territories to specifically recruit and support Aboriginal, low-income and rural students in medical studies.

To read the rest of the NDP’s platform that isn’t related to students or post-secondary education, clickhere.