Investing in Education: Eliminating Student Loan Interest

As the only MP who has been focused on the issue of student loan interest, our persistence has paid off for students and parents!

As of April 2023, I am happy to report that interest on Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans has been permanently eliminated!

There is no better investment for Canada than to invest in our nation's youth.

This is why I have been fighting to hold the government accountable on their election promise to permanently eliminate interest on federal student and apprentice loans. With students, like all Canadians, facing rampant inflation, skyrocketing food costs and costs of living, we could not afford to increase student loan payments by $600 as the Trudeau government had initially planned to do.

Here's a recap of our relentless campaign:

November 2, 2022 - National Post features my Private Member's Bill, C-301, and how our advocacy could force Liberals to act. Link: https://bit.ly/vuong-bill-on-student-loans

November 3, 2022 - In Fall Economic Statement, in response to our campaign, government was forced to finally honour their election promise.

Presented Private Member's Bill on October 26, 2022 - Introduced Bill C-301 in the House to do what the government campaigned on in 2021. Link: https://bit.ly/vuong-bill-c301
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Adjournment Proceeds on October 4, 2022 - I reminded the government of the Liberal Party’s 2021 Election Platform, “Forward. For Everyone”, and their promise. After the government refused to state when they would honour their promise, I simplified it for them to ask if they had any intention of supporting our nation’s students. Link: https://bit.ly/vuong-debates-govt

Question Period on September 23, 2022 - With so many people concerned about high interest rates and already facing challenges with rampant inflation and the cost of living, the federal government tried to quietly provide notice that the moratorium on student loans interest would expire on March 31, 2023. In other words, it was going to raise interest rates on April 1, 2023. I called on the government yet again to act on its promise to permanently eliminate interest on federal student loans. Link: https://bit.ly/vuong-supports-students‍

September 17, 2022 - The Government of Canada quietly provides notice in the Canada Gazette that the loan interest waiver expires on March 31, 2023.
February 17, 2022 - The minister was asked when Canadians can expect the elimination of student loan interest as promised in their campaign. Link: https://bit.ly/vuong-fights-for-students

We acknowledge the land that the community of Spadina-Fort York and which the Office of Kevin Vuong, M.P. operates on has for thousands of years been the traditional territory of many Nations, including the Chippewa, the Anishnabeg, the Huron-Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, the Mississaugas of the Credit, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Our Office acknowledges that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands.