The Liberal Party's election platform promises the party will meet the challenge of the so-called new economy by turning Canada into a "smart country," but CAUT says the Liberals are still making dumb choices.

Liberal Leader Jean Chrétien claimed his party's plans will "vault Canada into the new economy" and ensure "the new economy benefits all citizens and that no one is left behind."

But CAUT president Tom Booth said the lack of commitment to fund post-secondary education will mean many Canadians are in danger of being shut out of the new economy.

"You don't need a PhD to know you can't build a smart country by starving universities and colleges," he said. "There's absolutely nothing in the Liberal platform that recognizes the urgent need to increase core funding to improve the quality and accessibility of post-secondary education. In fact, none of the political parties has adequately addressed this issue."

Chrétien said a re-elected Liberal government would make good on its plans to cut taxes by at least $100 billion and to implement the health care accord reached with the provinces in September that will inject more than $21 billion of federal money into the system over the next five years. The Liberals plan to spend about $6 billion over the next four years on research and development, education, crime prevention, health care and children's programs.

Booth criticized the Liberals for devoting too much of the surplus to tax cuts when there are other pressing social needs. He also noted that the new education initiatives announced in the platform, including more targeted research funding, fail to address the real problems facing students and faculty.

The Liberals' plans to improve loans for part-time students, Booth argued, will do little to improve accessibility.

"Students don't need more debt," he said. "What students need and deserve is a more affordable education."

The Liberals have also promised to establish Registered Individual Learning Accounts whereby Canadians would receive tax breaks to save money to attend public or private training programs.

"This is the dumbest scheme yet," Booth said. "The people who need training the most -- the unemployed and those in low wage jobs -- are the ones who are least able to make any contribution to a learning account. The scheme will end up subsidizing private training institutes."