INTRODUCTION

Decisions made at the federal level have profound implications for all Canadians, especially students. The federal government is responsible for numerous post-secondary education programs, including:

• Canada Student Loan and Grants Program
• Aboriginal funding programs
• linguistic minority programs
• three university research granting councils
• copyright
• arts funding
• Canada Social Transfer (over $2.4 billion in transfers to the provinces for post-secondary)

Outside of the classroom, the federal government makes laws and policies governing other top-of-mind issues affecting students and their families, such as:

• military spending
• equal marriage
• taxes
• pollution and greenhouse gas emissions
• child care
• health care

Finally, the federal government can play a role in helping to reduce tuition fees. Although the provincial legislatures regulate fees directly, the federal government spends billions each year in fiscal transfers to the provinces that currently have no strings attached. The Canadian Federation of Students believes that affordable, high-quality post-secondary education is too important to pass the buck.