Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath made a campaign-style stop in London Wednesday to push her party's plan to help students struggling with debt.
Horwath, along with local New Democrat MPPs Teresa Armstrong and Peggy Sattler and London North Centre candidate Terence Kernaghan, met with post-secondary students at Innovation Works on King St.
Stuart McHenry, a second-year geography master's student at Western University, told Horwath he is overburdened with debt and worries about how long it will take to repay his student loans once he completes his degree.
"I haven't looked at my student loan in a while because I'm scared to do so, but I think it is around $20,000," said McHenry. "It scares me that I can't move on with my life because interest is going to be piling up. The longer I take to pay it the more I'm going to have to pay."
McHenry said he is just one of tens of thousands of students across the province who are forced to put plans for home ownership and retirement savings on hold.
"It's a downward cycle that really prevents you from moving on with your life," said McHenry. "It's sad that I am going to graduate with a great degree that I am very proud of but my first focus will have to be repaying debt."
Under the NDP platform released Monday, student loans would be converted to non-repayable grants, interest would no longer be charged on outstanding loans, and 27,000 new paid co-op placements would be created to help students gain experience in their field.
"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.”
As a way to cover the cost of keeping student debt to a minimum, as well as other planks in her platform, Horwath said the province will run a deficit over the next five years and boost taxes for high-income earners.
"For a long time now we have seen those at the very top continuing to do better and better and better while everyday families struggle just to make it through," said Horwath. "People making more than $220,000 a year, for example, will be having their taxes increased by 1%. If you're making over $300,000 a year you'll have your income taxes go up by 2% and the most profitable corporations will be asked to pay more as well. That will help us to offset some of these costs."