A boisterous crowd of university students, chanting "Stockwell, Go Homo," jeered Canadian Alliance Leader Stockwell Day on his visit to Brock University early in the federal election campaign.

About two dozen protestors confronted Day and accused the Alliance leader of pandering to corporate interests.

"He's a person that just listens to big money -- he's directed by a certain elite few, and those people are spin-doctoring him into doing what they want," said Colin Goodeve, a political science student.

"We're not really electing a party here, we're electing elite businessmen to run the country, and I think that's wrong because Canada's a country for the people."

After brushing past the protestors, Day held a private meeting with a group of students that had been selected to attend by a political science professor who is a member of the Canadian Alliance.

Day told the group his party would improve accessibility to post-secondary education by implementing an income contingent loan repayment plan under which students will be allowed to borrow more to cover rising tuition fees. In return, students will be able to pay back their loan over a longer period based upon their income after graduation.

The Alliance plan was quickly condemned by the Canadian Federation of Students which said income contingent loans would further restrict accessibility.

"The cost of tuition is already a serious deterrent, but the Alliance's proposal is a recipe for even higher tuition fees and higher debt," said CFS national chairperson Michael Conlon. "Income contingent loans are particularly unfair for lower-income earners because it takes them longer to pay off the loan and consequently they pay more interest."

Earlier, Day claimed that high taxes were behind the so-called brain drain of well educated and highly skilled Canadians to the U.S.

However, a recent Statistics Canada survey showed that for every university graduate who moved south during the 1990s, four highly educated migrants came to Canada. The survey also found the number of Canadians moving south of the border as a share of the population is well below the historical average.