An Ontario election is slated for October 6, and the reigning Liberal Party will attempt to pull off a third consecutive majority government. In that vein, the Liberals have recently made a slew of campaign promises in the post-secondary education (PSE) sector. Notably, they’ve committed to reducing undergraduate tuition for “middle-class Ontario families” by 30 per cent, amounting to “$1,600 per student in university and $730 per student in college.”

According to a September 5 Toronto Star article:

“The tuition break would be available only to students from families with a gross household income of $160,000 or less a year — about 86 per cent of the 360,000 students currently enrolled — and would take effect Jan. 1.”

Given that the platform itself does not fullly explain the proposal, this morning I spoke on the telephone with the Hon. John Milloy, Ontario’s Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. While it’s true that many of the details have yet to be worked out, he explained to me the following about the tuition-grant proposal:

– The grants would be paid directly to universities and colleges, who in turn would be required to pass the savings on to students. (I had heard prior to our conversation that some senior university administrators feared that universities and colleges would have to come up with this money themselves, but he assured me that there is no basis to that rumour).

– The focus is on undergraduate students leaving high school. Details have yet to be worked out as to whether part-time students would also be eligible.

– International students would not be eligible, nor would graduate students.

– This would be a permanent program (i.e. it would not be time-limited).

I believe that the tuition-grant proposal is worth paying attention to, in part because results of recent opinion polling suggests the Liberals are indeed the party to beat, and may indeed win their third consecutive majority.

If nothing else, the tuition-grant proposal is indicative of the fact that the Liberals are making PSE affordability one of their highest priorities during the present campaign. It is expected to cost $423 million once fully implemented, representing almost one-third of all new spending proposed in the Liberal platform.

The proposal is all the more telling in light of the fact that many pundits believe that, no matter which party forms the next government, substantial spending cuts are imminent. Indeed, Tom Walkom has recently argued that it is very highly likely that significant cuts to health care will take place in Ontario (irrespective of who forms a government) even though no party has thus far been willing to fully explain how it would bring about such cuts.

I asked Mr. Milloy how the Liberals could propose such an expensive commitment in light of the challenging fiscal times that lie ahead. He said that it’s precisely because of that context that the Liberals have proposed a total of just $1.5 billion in new spending.

I consider the Liberals’ tuition-grant proposal to be the second-most astonishing development in Ontario’s PSE sector over the past decade. The only development I’ve found more astonishing has been the actual track record on PSE affordability of a leader who refers to himself as “the education premier.” As I’ve written about here, tuition fees in Ontario have become the highest in Canada, but were only fourth-highest when Mr. McGuinty took power in 2003. What’s more, Ontario is now in last place nationally in terms of per-student PSE funding.

Last December, I wrote an opinion piece that was highly critical of the Liberals’ handling of PSE affordability. I suggested that if Minister Milloy cannot improve PSE affordability, then perhaps a new minister should. This morning, I may have spoken to that new minister.

This article was first posted on The Progressive Economics Forum.