ews Thousands of students protest post- secondary education cuts Source: CUP member papers and regional bureaux By CUP staff Thousands of students across Canada took to the streets on Wednesday as part of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) Access 2000 campaign. The CFS, Canada’s largest stu- dent lobby group, is calling on the federal government to restore $3.7-billion in provin- cial transfer payments for post-secondary education. Since taking office in 1993, the federal Liberals have cut $7-billion from post-sec- ondary education and train- ing. Students in more than 50 communities joined the CFS debt loads have on students. “We feel it went well,” said Stephen Lewis, vice-presi- dent (finance) at the Student in their call for more educa- . f= tion funding. In St. John’s, Newfoundland, 1,500 university, college and high school students walked out of classes to protest govern- ment cutbacks to education. The protest was so boister- ous that at one point a reporter from a local radio station asked if there was a party going on. In Charlottetown, more than 200 students at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEl) participated in a Kraft dinner lunch. The gathering was meant to highlight the impact high student President Jago assures students that the faculty is backing up their arguments against the liberal government Shares his thoughts on the national day of action Union of UPEI. “It’s hard to get students out on this cam- pus, so we feel this was a successful turnout.” Out in Quebec, cold weath- er did not keep studenis from protesting. About 200 stu- dents from Concordia University, McGill Univesity and Universit@ du Qubec a Montreal bundled up and _, marched in | minus -15 Celsius weather “The govern- ment has gone too far and cut too much from our programs. You.can see it at McGill, you can | see it across the ecomrtry,” remarked Kate Meier, vice-pres- ident (external) at McGill’s Post- Graduate Students’ Society. Anti-corporate sentiment also echoed from many of the marchers who chanted such slogans as, “We want education, tax the corporations.” In Ottawa, protest organizers estimated that between 2,000- 3,000 university and high school students, as well as faculty, marched downtown before reaching Parliament Hill. CFS national campaigns co-ordina- tor Pam Frache was very pleased with the turnout. “I think today 4 shows what we know already: that the 4) Majority of Canadians “| are with us in the fight a for a restoration of education funding,” she said. On Parliament Hill, a number of people addressed the crowd - including Federal New Democratic Party Leader Alexa McDonough - while joining student advocates in prompt- ing the federal government to use their budget surplus to reinvest in social programs. “If the Liberals have the guts, we have the solution!” said McDonough. “Let’s reduce tuition fees! Let's phase out tuition fees!” The federal surplus is esti- mated at more than $95-bil- lion over the next five years. According to Statistics Canada, tuition fees across the country for under- graduate arts programs have increased by 125.9 per cent since 1990, resulting in an average cost of $3,658. In TOFONto, fog student pro- t 6. S4,.094,5 entrances to ¥o <0). “eas University. Protestors held cars for three minutes while they marched and let drivers know what was going on. Afterwards, they would let two cars in ata time. The Toronto Transit Commission decided not to send their buses onto cam- pus and were dropping stu- dents off at the perimeter of York. “I think the strike would be more effective if they decided to strike in September or strike when it’s registration and nobody decides to regis- ter and nobody decides to come to school in September,” said Sandra Miller, a fourth- year psychology student at York. In downtown Toronto, an estimated 2,000-3,000 stu- dents and supporters swarmed Queen’s Park in an impressive wave. ‘“l’ve jumped through hoops long enough,” Joel Harden, the Ontario CFS chair, told the crowd. “Today we’re taking a different route. Today you have to listen to the thou- sands of us.” Further west, more than 1,000 students from Manitoba’s four major univer- sities walked out of classes. Following a march through downtown Winnipeg, students went to the University of Winnipeg to Sis- ten to speakers and bands. Students played a friendly game of street hockey, the prize for which was the “Chretien Cup.” And at the University of Regina, stu- dents started the Access 2000 day of action with a pancake breakfast, followed by speeches and activities throughout the day. In Alberta, students at Mount Royal College in Calgary raised placards to show their support for Access 2000. A rally was held at noon at Wyckham House, the Students’ Association (SA) building, with speeches from campus leaders. “I think we inspired and motivated some people today to join the movement and to speak-out about their concerns,’ said Elsie Kipp, SA vice-president (external). Mount Royal Students were very support- ive of the campus initiative. About 60 signatures were gathered for the tuition freeze petition inside of an hour, and many students also filled out protest postcards that will be sent to MLAs and Mps. “The key is persistence,” said Cherie Strid, a first-year journalism student at Mount Royal. “The government needs to know we Care.” Meanwhile, out in British Columbia, the Simon Fraser Student Society’s took stu- dents through an education maze before bus- ing protestors to downtown Vancouver. Throughout the morning volunteers were handing out leaflets around campus for the event, while Continued on Page 10 Unbc students voice their opinions on government actions regarding the tuition freeze and funding cuts.