OTTAWA - Michael Ignatieff wants you to know that his party is the party of students and affordable higher education.

An undeserving title if ever there was one.

The Liberals can't claim to be the party of students when they rejected a federal budget laced with measures to ease the burden on families with students in college and university. The last federal budget offered offered higher income thresholds for part-time loans and grants, making these loans more accessible for part time students.

The budget, importantly, raised the maximum in-study period income of full time students so that they could make more without harming their eligibility for Canada Student Loans.

Ignatieff and his friends, Layton and Duceppe, all voted down these measures and chose instead to hold an election. So Ignatieff will understand then why students won't fall for his party's talking points on education.

Meanwhile, Stephen Harper didn't just support our families as we pay for our schooling. The Conservatives helped students earn credible job training and real world experience, enhancing our education.

Budget 2010 included $2.2 billion per year for grants, scholarships, and loan programs. The Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit was implemented to incentivize businesses to hire apprentices out of college. Apprenticeship Incentive Grants and Apprenticeship Completion Grants both helped encourage students to pursue a future in the skilled trades.

I ask then, which is the party truly interested in enhancing opportunity for Canada's students?

Ignatieff continued his attempts to brand himself as student friendly with the announcement of a pledge to implement a new federal student grant if elected. The grant, which the Liberals call their "Learning Passport", would amount to $1000 every year for 4 years through each student's RESP.

How will Ignatieff fund his new passport? First, he would increase the corporate tax rate. We all know how this will turn out for job creation.

Second, he will cancel $210 million in education tax credits, $39 million in textbook tax credits, and $203 million carry forward credits for students, among other things. These changes will be expensive, and will sharply reduce the net benefit of the program, if implemented.

Beyond that, the proposal is further indication that the Liberals are spend-happy, which should came as no surprise to observers of Canadian politics.

But, let us excuse for a moment the policy itself. This announcement was a brilliant example of policy on a napkin: a Liberal war room, desperate for an education announcement, made one up on the fly... while others discovered massive holes in Iggy's proposal. Here is a short timeline of the evolution of Iggy's on the fly education policy.

Early in the morning on March 29th, Iggy announces his "learning passport". A few short hours later, the Liberal war room announces changes to the plan after discovering that (oops!) it applied to CEGEP students in Quebec, who would actually make a profit off of the scheme.

In the early afternoon, Ignatieff and his team discover that (oops again!) their RESP grant may make some Canadian students ineligible for Canada Student Loans or Canada Student Grants based on income. Sorry, our bad.

But wait, there's more! The afternoon isn't out yet before the Liberals decide that their policy won't count against family income for student loan calculations.

The day is done, and finally, Iggy has his education policy.

Bad policy can come from many places. Foolishness is one. Rashness is another. The next time the Liberal war room decides to make major campaign announcements, maybe they should avoid making them on the fly.