Ask a Canadian what the best cure for poverty is, and many will say: Get an education.

But, ironically, higher education could become the first casualty of Canada’s recession.

The Education Policy Institute (EPI) appears to be promoting an anti-education policy by urging Canadian universities to raise tuition by as much as 25 per cent.

Stunningly, as the nation plunges into recession, EPI submits Canadians can afford higher tuition.

I try to be delicate about these things but in this case I cannot help but ask: What planet are these guys living on?

Because on my planet – Earth – 80% of Canadian students say they have to go into too much debt to pay for post-secondary education. Tuition in Canada has more than doubled the rate of inflation since 1990.

On my planet, university graduates delay getting married, starting a family and buying a house because they graduate with a debt load equivalent to the price of a down payment on a home. Total student debt in Canada surpassed the $13 billion mark in January 2009.

On my planet, too many low-income Canadians never go to university because they can’t afford the tuition. Low-income Canadians are almost half as likely to enroll in university as are high-income Canadians.

On my planet, Canadians with a low level of education are more likely to find themselves stuck in low wage, go nowhere jobs that our policy makers should do all they can to help them escape.

On my planet, the last thing you want during a recession is to create policies that leave more Canadians in personal debt and fewer low-income earners getting educated and retrained.

On my planet you shouldn’t have to say the obvious: That a post-secondary education is an investment in our people, in our nation, in our collective future prosperity.

Solid evidence from the U.K. shows people who get a higher education are more involved parents, more engaged citizens, more inclined to vote and to get connected in their community.

This is not only good for our democracy, and for the future of our children, it’s exactly the qualities we need for Canadians to work our way out of this recession.

You could turn back the clock and make university an ivory tower for the privileged few that can afford exorbitant tuition hikes. But we all pay the price for such a short-sighted policy approach.

Trish Hennessy

Trish Hennessy

Trish Hennessy is director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ontario office. Follow her on Twitter: @trishhennessy