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Here listed are the promises of the four major parties based on the pillars of the Fairness for Students Demands campaign as seen in the images above.

CLIMATE CHANGE: a stronger government approach in fighting climate change.

Green Party:
·      Set greenhouse gas target emissions
·      Create a revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend system.
·      Return all pollution tac revenue to citizens’ bank accounts.
·      Accelerate the target for net zero buildings and revise the Ontario Building Code to mandate that all new buildings meet net-zero standard.
·      Set greenhouse gas target emissions.
·      Create a revenue neutral carbon fee and dividend system.
·      Return all pollution tax revenue to citizens bank accounts.
·      Accelerate targets for net zero buildings and revise the Ontario Building Code to mandate that all new buildings meet net-zero standard.
·      Create a dedicated funding stream for green infrastructure.
·      Create effective building upgrade programs for "green heat" sources.
·      Develop a clean and affordable electricity system.
·      Create water treatment systems that will end long-term boil water advisories.
·      Cleanup the mercury in the English and Wabigoon river systems.
·      Oppose the reverse flow of Line 9.
·      Phase out the bottled water industry.

NDP:
·     Set greenhouse gas target emissions.
·     Spend 25 per cent of cap-and-trade revenues to support lower-income, rural, and northern households, and trade-exposed industries.
·     Introduce a new $50 million no-interest and on-bill home retrofit program to help people consume less power at home.
·     Update the Environmental Bill of Rights.
·     Clean up the mercury in the English and Wabigoon River systems.

Liberal Party:
·     Continue to use Ontario's cap-and-trade program to set  a hard cap on greenhouse gas emissions.
·     Invest up to $1.7 billion in home energy renovations and Ontario businesses through the Green Ontario Fund.
·     Launch a study to identity the localized impact of air pollution on First Nations and Sarnia-area residents.
·     Invest $15 million over three years to protect Ontario's natural heritage and biodiversity.

PC Party:
·     Get rid of cap and trade carbon tax.

FOOD SECURITY: a comprehensive food system that is healthy, sustainable and reliable.

Green Party:
·     Protect local food supplies by banning the use of neonicotinoid pesticides.
·     Set measurable Ontario food purchasing targets. Pass the Organic Products Act and implement a long-term Organic Growth Strategy.
·     Establish an Ontario Food and Farming Policy Council.
·     Increase funding support for local food and beverage processors.

NDP:
·     Develop a Provincial Food and Water Strategy to: promote health through access to healthy food, put public access to drinking water first and strengthen the resilience of Ontario's food systems.

Liberal Party:
·     Launch the Food Security and Climate Change Impact Fund, which will focus on community-led initiatives, such as food hubs and nutrition literacy programs; indigenous-led initiatives, such as improving access to traditional foods; and, increasing northern access to food through reducing costs and environmental impacts of the retailing, storage and transportation of food.

PC Party:
·     No mention of food security.

DIVESTMENT: an end to investment in war, fossil fuels and resource extraction.

Green Party:
·     Phase out funding for infrastructure that relies on fossil fuels and increases Ontario's greenhouse gas emissions.
·     Apply a climate lens to all planning decisions, environmental assessments and planning laws to help transition our communities to a fossil-fuel free future.

NDP:
·     No mention of divestment.

Liberal Party:
·     No mention of divestment.

PC Party:
·     No mention of divestment.

HEALTH CARE: OHIP for International Students, better support for trans students, and increased and diverse mental health resources.

Green Party:
·     Implement a universal dental care program.
·     Increase funding for mental health and addictions support for children and youth.
·     Increase culturally-competent and diverse mental health and addictions services.
·     Mandate training for primary health care practitioners on the health care needs of trans and gender-diverse people.
·     Provide supports for racialized groups, LGBTC1-1- and those with disabilities in colleges and universities.

NDP:
·     Implement free Pharmacare coverage for everyone.
·     Invest $590 million over five years to expand mental health services.
·     Hire 2,200 new mental health care workers.
·     Fully cover the cost of transition drugs.
·     Ensure that health care decisions respect the internationally­ accepted standards of care established by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).

Liberal Party:
·     Invest $6 million per year to support the development and/or expansion of mental health services on campus.
·     Establish a new Local Service Priority Fund to strengthen mental health supports for underserved populations.
·     Improve access to relevant, high-quality services for all.

PC Party:
·     Invest $1.9 billion over the next decade in mental health and addiction services.

HOUSING: affordable, safe, well maintained and secured student housing.

Green Party:
·     Work with communities to develop a plan to improve access to affordable housing across the province.
·      Put a tax on vacant property to make it harder for speculators to use real estate as a lucrative place to park cash.

NDP:
·      Build new affordable housing over the next decade and encourage an array of housing options.

Liberal Party:
·      Implement policy changes to curb rental and house prices.
·      Create incentives of $125-million over five-years to encourage the construction of new purpose-built rental apartment buildings by rebating a portion of development charges.

PC Party:
·      Work with municipalities to develop a broad Housing Plan.
·      Increase the supply of affordable housing across the GTA.

CHILD CARE: universal child care services that prioritize students for on-campus centres.

Green Party:
·      Provide incentive to offset the capital costs for businesses to set up onsite daycare, with hours matching the working hours of the businesses.

NDP:
·      Provide free child care for households making $40,000 or less and a childcare subsidy of $12 a day for most families.

Liberal Party:
·      Invest $2.2 billion over three years to increase access to child care and introduce free preschool for children ages two and a half to kindergarten.

PC Party:
·      No mention of child care services.

RECONCILIATION: a government that upholds First Nations, Métis and Inuit students’ right to post-secondary education.

Green Party:
·     Support increases to Indigenous Student Bursary funding to keep pace with rising Indigenous population and enrolment.
·     Support the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy.
·     Establish cultural competency training requirements on Indigenous issues for public-facing professionals.

NDP:
·     Implement the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Liberal Party:
·     Increase inclusionary learning by supporting Indigenous institutes to expand capacity and strengthen their role as an important and unique pillar in Ontario’s post-secondary system.

PC Party:
·     No mention of upholding First Nation, Métisand Inuit students’ rights to post-secondary education.

FRENCH LANGUAGE EDUCATION: new funding for French-Language Universities.

Green Party:
·     No mention of French language post-secondary education.

NDP:
·     Committed to opening the French Language University.

Liberal Party:
·     Committed to opening the French Language University and will include French-language content in the Ontario Open Textbooks initiative.

PC Party:
·     No mention of French language post-secondary education.

TRANSIT: public transit that is affordable, reliable and energy efficient.

Green Party:
·     Increase funding for public transit infrastructure to $1.5 billion per year.
·     Fund 50 per cent of the operating costs of municipal transit systems.

NDP:
·     Invest $800 million annually to cover 50 per cent of all municipal transit
operating costs.
·     Introduce all-day, two-way GO rail between Kitchener, Waterloo and Toronto.
·     Start construction on Hamilton's LRT and Toronto's downtown relief line.

Liberal Party:
·     Increase funding by $24 billion for public transit projects.
·     Earmark $11 billion for a high-speed rail line between Toronto to Windsor.
·     Allocate $4 billion from the provincial infrastructure budgets for public transit projects across Ontario between now and 2028.

PC Party:
·     Increase funding by $5 billion for subways, relief lines and two-way GO transit to Niagara.
·     Invest in Hamilton infrastructure projects.
·     Develop new transportation infrastructure in Northern Ontario's James Bay lowlands.

WORKERS' RIGHTS: minimum wage, precarious work, scheduling and paid sick days requires strong legislation to protect student workers.

Green Party:
·     Increase minimum wage to $15 per hour on January 1, 2019.

NDP:
·     Increase minimum wage to $15 per hour and index to CPI.
·     Remove the sub-minimum wage for students, restaurants and bar staff.

Liberal Party:
·     Increase minimum wage to $15 per hour on January 1, 2019.

PC Party:
·     Freeze minimum wage at $14.

TUTION FEES: a reduction and elimination of tuition fees for all.

Green Party:
·     Guarantee free tuition for Ontario residents and regulate tuition fees to the Ontario Consumer Price Index (CPI).
·     Index funding for institutions to the national average.
·     Provide interest-free student loans for students with financial needs.

NDP:
·     Convert all student loans into grants and retroactively forgive interest for anyone with provincial student loan debts.
·     Lift the budget freeze on institutions and maintain increased levels of funding.

Liberal Party:
·     Reduce the expected parental and spousal contributions for OSAP, making it easier for middle-income and married students to receive financial aid.

PC Party:
·     No mention of tuition fees or financial aid. Doug Ford has said he would seek to tie post-secondary funding to free speech, to restrict limitations imposed by institutions regarding what is considered hateful speech on campus.

QUALITY OF EDUCATION: education that provides the necessary academic supports to succeed.

Green Party:
·     Establish a contract minimum of three courses per semester for contract faculty to avoid precarity of employment.
·     Increase funding for food security programs and improve access to gender and culturally-sensitive mental health services on campus.
·     Provide supports for racialized groups, LGBTQ+ and students with disabilities.

NDP:
·     Launch a faculty renewal strategy to promote full-time employment and invest more in tenure-track faculty positions.

Liberal Party:
·     Maintain investment of $6 million per year to expand mental health services at colleges and universities.

PC Party:
·     No mention of investing in academic support services.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Sébastien Lalonde, VP Campaigns & Advocacy, at: vpcampaigns@yfs.ca