The Progressive Conservatives ended mandatory ancillary student fees to tackle the red menace.

That’s the message of the governing party’s latest fundraising email blast sent Monday titled “How broken was education?”

“Students were forced into unions and forced to pay for those unions,” Premier Doug Ford said of the fees that helped to bankroll student government.

“I think we all know what kind of crazy Marxist nonsense student unions get up to. So, we fixed that. Student union fees are now opt-in,” said Ford.

The move last month, hailed by Conservatives and panned by student groups, was in conjunction with the government’s 10 per cent post-secondary tuition cut and revamp of the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).

“For all of their talk, the Liberals never lowered tuition. So, we did. We cut tuition by 10 per cent across the board,” the premier said.

“What are the Liberals saying about it now? That we’re gutting the system. These guys are nuts,” he said.

“Take OSAP. A family bringing in $170,000 a year was still getting $2,000 in grants. Sorry folks, but government grants should be for people who need it most. So, we fixed that too.”

Last month, the Tories, who defeated former premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals in June, scrapped the old “free tuition” program for 230,000 post-secondary students in favour of lower tuition for everyone.

The new government also replaced the grant program with a more loan-oriented system.

Student fees, which can add as much as $2,000 a year to post-secondary costs, fund numerous on-campus activities and clubs, including newspapers.

Only programs that support transit, health and wellness — like athletics, walk-safe programs or counselling — and career services will be mandatory.

Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter (Scarborough-Guildwood), the former post-secondary minister, said Ford “knows literally next to nothing about student unions.”

“He seems to think his opt-out plan will help students and defund radical organizations. What he will actually defund are diversity clubs, student newspapers, (LGBT) centres, food banks, walk-home programs, Indigenous centres, and other important programming,” said Hunter.

“Under Ford’s plan only the wealthiest Ontarians benefit — those who never qualified for OSAP in the first place.”

NDP MPP Chris Glover (Spadina-Fort York) blasted the premier for the “unfounded, unwarranted attack on young people who are serving their fellow college and university students.”

“Doug Ford is attacking student unions because he doesn’t want students to be able to organize to fight against not only this round of cuts, but the next round as well,” said Glover.

“It’s ludicrous for any leader, in any country, to attack students, their organizations and the services they count on,” he said.

The College Student Alliance has already reached out to post-secondary minister Merrilee Fullerton about the PC fundraising appeal.

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“It’s disappointing to see the language used toward democratically elected bodies, as we know the value of on-campus student representation,” said Brittany Greig, president of the alliance that represents college student associations across the province.

“Student unions provide essential services, like academic appeal assistance and food banks, that will be missed should they no longer exist. We urge the government to reconsider the ‘student choice initiative,’ and we are dedicated to helping them develop a better policy.”

Greig also said alliance members are concerned about the government talking about students “opting in” to fees they want to pay, rather than having them opt-out of those they don’t want — worried that would further erode support for different activities.

When the government announced the move to end mandatory fees, student groups said they had not been consulted on changes that have a huge impact on campus life.

At the time, Greig had said that student associations are there to “hold institutions accountable for decisions surrounding fee increases, programming, or strategic plans,” and warned that breakfast programs, student government and other clubs and activities could disappear.

Coincidentally, Ford’s own parliamentary assistant, MPP Stephen Lecce (King-Vaughan) was president of Western University’s student council in 2008-09.

Some 26 former Western university students’ council presidents sent Lecce an open letter three weeks ago urging him to convince the premier to reconsider the fee change.

Read more:

Free-tuition program is gone, tuition reduced and student fees are no longer mandatory, Ford government announces

Fears raised over impact of tinkering with student fees

The student, the parent, the graduate: the people hit by Tories’ OSAP shakeup weigh in

Ontario to cut tuition fees by 10 per cent

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie Kristin Rushowy is with the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy

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