and Immigration, by. students at

i ‘ Ill 5 K i w Flo acDonald, Minister of Employment UPEI concerned about the loss of over 600 PEI

summer jobs due to the cancellation of the Canada Summer Works Programs.

(Photo: MacLeod)

—page 1 —-

, U.P.E.L

The

Students mad ’ about the food

By Jonathan Orlowski

‘The majority of students who live in Bernardine and Marian Halls are dissatisfied with the university’s Food Service, an informal Netted Gem poll discovered last week.

Meal plans, high food prices, food quality, and health regulations are the stu- dents’ main concerns.

“I’m on meal plan 2,” said one resident, “and I go home on weekends. The average coupon special costs about $3.50 (a well-balanced meal). I worked my budget out to $5 a day. If I buy a well-balanced meal at supper, that leaves me with $1.50 for breakfast and lunch.”

“I can’t survive like that,” he added.

Jim Griffith, Director of Student Services disagrees with this kind of calculating.

“You cannot divide the meal plan into specific days, because every student does not have the same consump- tion;_some eat more, some less.”

He says he can’t put a specific price on the meal plan because the food is included with room and board in the residences.

One student at least has the feeling of being cheated, “Bernardine has good kitchen facilities on each floor, but they’re no good to us because we’re forced to eat at the cafeteria.”

Griffith responded to the question of kitchens: “The kitchens are for house parties and individual snacks. The building was not desinged for mass cooking. as Blanchard (Hall) was.”

One student charged, “I’m not getting enough protein and nutrients with the meal plan I have now. When I lived at Blanchard I ate comfortably on $30-35 a week because we group-ate a lot.” He says that since moving into Bernardine he struggles on $65 a week, has lost ten pounds in two months, and has to spend even more money buying extra books of food coupons.

January 31, 1985

Andy Dean, manager of Saga Foods Limited on campus, says, “If students take into consideration the cost of the product, cost of labour, and a marginal profit then compare with other food services, our prices are very competitive.’ ’

'He explained that students buying the coupon special but changing one item must be charged for each indivi- dual item, in response to an often-voiced complaint.

While there are students who don’t have enought, there are also those with too many food coupons.

“I have to sell my extra books or I’ll get caught with them at the end of the semester and they’ll be use- less,” complained one such resident.

“We pay $50 for each book. Once the semester begins, the business office sells books for $30. I can’t get $30 for my extra books because students think the business office is making a

continued page 12

““‘Wha‘t’t’he parties are saying about our jobs

OTTAWA (CUP) ~1- Angry

opposition MPsdemanded in-

the House of Commons Jan. 23 that the Tories immediately reinstate the Summer Canada Works program which created jobs for 86,000 stu- dents last year.

Led by Liberal leader John Turner, the MP5 said tens of thousands ‘ of students are becoming increasingly an- _ xious about their summer job

prospects and need to know soon what the federal govern- ment will provide. Summer Canada Works, the country’s largest student job creation program, was killed Nov. 8.

Flora MacDonald, employ- ment and immigration minister, replied she has already told the House that the Tories will announce the program’s replacement in the first week of February. She

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said she notified the House Jan. 21.

On that date, MacDonald said: “... I am pleased to tell the House that those pro- grams will have the co- operation of the provincial governments and the private sector.

“I may also add that these programs will be more career- oriented than those of the past, so that students work- ing this summer will be able to use that experience as a training ground for perma- nent jobs in the future.”

Bolstered by the shouts and catcalls of Liberal MPs surrounding him, Turner de- cried the Tories for what he called the “savaging” of job creation programs for young people. The Tories virtually eliminated the Summer Canada Works program in their Nov. 8 economic state- ment, when they announced $85 million from the program would be cut.

“We must not lose a generation in this country for failing to respond to their needs. The meat-cleaver ap- proach taken by this govem- ment to existing programs for youth is counter-productive to that renewal approach,” Turner said.

“Our young people do not want to hear the words ‘cut,

.cut, cut.’ ”

Turner said, interview, he

in a later thinks the

government is not committed

to creating jobs for students and is alienating its greatest investment for the future. He added the timing of the pro- gram’s elimination is ironic because 1985 has been pro- claimed International Year of Youth.

“It’s going to be a tough year for students. Obviously, the lead time to make the program effective is running out.”

In his economic statement, finance minister Michael Wilson said the $85 million would be taken from the pro- gram’s base budget of $100 million. But according to Liberal government releases issued last year and the year before, the actual amount of money pumped into the program was $201 million. The former Liberal government allocated $170 million in December 1983 and added another $30 million in its February 1984 budget.

Jean Wright, Canadian Federation of Students economic researcher, said the cut actually represents a de- crease of $186 million and means more than 80,000 stu- dents face grim job prospects this summer. Only two Summer Canada Works programs — Canadian Em- ployment Centres for Stu- dents and summer internships for native - students —— remain intact.

Said Turner: “At a time

when half a million young

press

people between the ages of 15 and 24 are unemployed and hundreds of students will soon be emerging from universities and colleges looking for work, the government does not see as its main priority the creation of jobs for young people.”

NDP MP Howard McCurdy, youth and post— secondary education critic, said in an interview outside the Commons he fears the government will announce a job creation program de- signed in the interests of big business, not of students.

“I’m becoming very worried. My suspicion is the emphasis will be placed on private enterprise. Unless it has appropriate regulations to ensure it won’t benefit employers more than stu- dents, it’s gonna fail,” he said.

“Students will not the kind of career preparation they need.”

Liberal MP Jean LaPierre, youth minister in Turner’s cabinet, said he thinks the Tories will introduce either a wage subsidy or tax credit program allowing businesses to write off expenses incurred from hiring students.

LaPierre said the govern- ment might also unveil a national capital venture pro- gram, similar to those imple- mented in British Columbia and Ontario which en-

couraged students to risk

their personal savings setting up their own summer businesses.

“I’m afraid they might lean on a tax credit type of thing. They’re definitely pro- business; they’re pro—every- thing except students.”

LaPierre and McCurdy slammed the Tories for not releasing the program’s de- tails before the Christmas holidays, saying students must now hastily prepare for the summer and make plans to finance their education. They said the delay will create a bureaucratic nightmare because new application forms must be drawn up.

“1 think for anyone trying to plan this summer the delay is causing quite a problem,” LaPierre said. “The Tories are putting young people’s opportunities in jeopardy.”

Community groups across the country, McCurdy said, are also anxiously awaiting the program’s release. He said hundreds of social ser- vice groups depend on Summer Canada Works to provide student workers and now many face an uncertain summer. A few have written letters of concern to the government.

And as many as 500 posi- tions in the employment and immigration department could be axed, says Alan Lennon, spokesperson for the Canadian Employment and Immigra-

tion Union.