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Education & Training platforms

Here's what the candidates in Edmonton Strathcona, and their parties, are promising.

Job training

We don't have any PPC policies on Job training.
We don't have any Green policies on Job training.

Conservative

  • Work with colleges and universities to make sure courses, programs, and academic curricula reflect labour demands.
  • Make sure government retraining programs meet demand for skills required.

NDP

Change EI rules to allow workers who quit their job to go to school to qualify for EI benefits, expand options for workers in designated sectors and regions to take EI funded training ahead of losing a job, and require employers to spend at least 1 percent of payroll on training.

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We're committed to working with the provinces to ensure that Canadians have access to education throughout their professional lives, including proactive training and retraining, as well as support when they are unemployed. Our vision is one where training opportunities are flexible enough to work with people's busy lives, and significant enough to really improve job prospects.

To get there, we'll change EI rules to allow workers who quit their job to go to school to qualify for for EI benefits, so that families can count on some income support during that period of transition back to school. We'll also expand options for workers in designated sectors and regions to take EI funded training in advance of losing a job while at the same time promoting investment to ensure that regional economies are creating good jobs that support families and communities. Finally, to make sure that businesses are investing in the training that Canadians need, a New Democrat government will require employers to spend at least 1 percent of payroll on training for their employees annually.

In order to deliver these changes we'll work closely with the provinces to establish national training priorities, and create a new Workers Development and Opportunities Fund to expand training options beyond people who qualify for EI. This fund will be provincially directed, with dedicated support for marginalized workers, those in transitioning sectors and for efforts to improve literacy and essential skills.

From A New Deal for People, retrieved 2019-09-22.

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Liberal

  • Introduce a Canada Training Benefit, giving workers money to help pay for training, provide income support during training, and offer job protection.
  • Create a Canadian Apprenticeship Service, supported by up to $10,000/apprentice, over four years, for every new position created.

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To give apprentices more certainty and more opportunities to gain work experience, we will move forward with creating the Canadian Apprenticeship Service, in partnership with provinces, territories,employers, and unions. With this new help, apprentices who enter the Red Seal trades can be more confident about the future, knowing that jobs will be available when they need them.

To support this effort, we will work with our partners to create more opportunities, providing up to $10,000 per apprentice, over four years, for every new position created. This investment will help 12,500 more apprentices finish their training on time.

We will also lead by example – directly hiring upto (sic) an additional 250 apprentices each year, requiring that government suppliers participate in the Canadian Apprenticeship Service, and requiring that federal construction contracts meet targets for greater inclusion of women in the trades.

From Forward, retrieved 2019-10-01.

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Post-secondary education

We don't have any PPC policies on Post-secondary education.

Green

  • Allocate $10 billion to post-secondary and trade school supports.
  • Make college and university tuition free for all Canadian students.
  • Remove the 2% cap on increases in education funding for Indigenous students.
  • Forgive extant student debt held by the federal government.

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Make college and university tuition free for all Canadian students. This would be financed by redirecting existing spending on bursaries, tuition tax credits, saved costs of administering the student loan system, and the hundreds of millions of dollars of student loan defaults written off every year. Tuition scholarships provided by colleges and universities can be redirected to offset other student costs.

Tie funding in federal-provincial transfers to universities, providing more to universities and colleges with a measurable focus on student-professor contact, mentorship, policies of inclusion and tenure track hires.

Remove the two per cent cap on increases in education funding for Indigenous students and ensure all Indigenous youth have access to post-secondary education.

Forgive the portion of existing student debt that is held by the federal government.

From Election Platform 2019, retrieved 2019-09-22.

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We don't have any Conservative policies on Post-secondary education.

NDP

Over the long term, work with provinces and territories to cap and reduce tuition feeds, building towards making post-secondary education part of a public education system.

RESPs

We don't have any PPC policies on RESPs.
We don't have any Green policies on RESPs.

Conservative

Raise the government's contribution to an RESP from 20% to 30% for every dollar invested up to $2,500 a year.

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A couple who begins contributing $25 a month to an RESP right after their child’s birth will receive $1,620 by age 18. That’s $540 more than they would receive currently.

Another couple that is able to invest $50 a month will receive $3,240 in government contributions by age 18. That’s $1,080 more than they would receive currently.

Low-income parents will receive 50 per cent on the first $500 they invest every year. Today, they only receive 40 per cent.

From Andrew Scheer announces plan to boost the RESP, retrieved 2019-10-08.

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We don't have any NDP policies on RESPs.
We don't have any Liberal policies on RESPs.

Student loans

We don't have any PPC policies on Student loans.
We don't have any Green policies on Student loans.
We don't have any Conservative policies on Student loans.

Liberal

Introduce rules so that graduates won't have to start repaying their loans until they make at least $35,000, and put payments on hold if their income ever falls below this level.

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To help more students prepare for good jobs while taking on less debt, we will move forward with more generous Canada Student Grants and more affordable and flexible student loans.

We will give full- and part-time students up to $1,200 more per year, through increased Canada Student Grants, and will give students two years after graduation to get started in their career before they need to begin paying off their student loans, interest-free. We will also change the rules so that graduates won’t have to start repaying their loans until they make at least $35,000, and if their income ever falls below this level, their payments will be put on hold.

To make it easier for parents to focus on their families rather than their debt, we will allow new parents to pause their student loan repayments, interest-free, until their youngest child reaches the age of five. New parents who have graduated but haven’t yet finished paying off their student loans will also get to hit pause until their child turns five.

Additional compensation will be offered to provinces and territories that do not participate in the Canada Student Loan Program.

From Forward, retrieved 2019-10-01.

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