daveberta meets kennedy (part II)

As mentioned here, I met Federal Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy on Tuesday evening at a BBQ at the Ottwell Community Hall here in Edmonton (Also, today's Globe & Mail has an article about Kennedy).

The event was decently attended with around 60ish people packed into the community hall. Kennedy's speech was good, and the question and answer portion following his speech was typical of these types of events. It was the one-on-one conversation that I had with Kennedy that impressed me the most.

During the question and answer session, Kennedy answered a question by talking about graduate education and innovation. Towards the end of the event, I approached Kennedy and asked him what his ideas were on the Federal Government's role in Post-Secondary Education.

As c-lo agrees, I was quite pleased with Kennedy's response:

1. Creation of a national ministry of education.
2. Creation of national standards for quality and accessibility.
3. Creation of a dedicated transfer to PSE which will reward provinces who meet those national standards.
4. Creation of more federal grants for students over loans.
5. Setting student loan caps where any extra debt is forgiven.

Though I may continue to have major issues and skepticisms about the Liberal Party of Canada, but my hope that Gerard Kennedy will lead that party continues.