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       NDP leader Jagmeet Singh respond to questions after meeting with Grand Chief Arlen Dumas, right, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, in Winnipeg, on Thursday, August 26, 2021.

       Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press

       NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is pledging financial breaks for Canadian students, vowing to do away with interest on federal student loans “immediately and permanently” as well as forgive student debt.

       Singh spoke Saturday at a campaign stop outside of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont., ahead of the Sept. 20 federal election.

       Singh says students have been among the Canadians hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic and forgiving their debt would give youth a necessary leg up.

       Laurentian recently had nearly 60 undergraduate programs and 11 graduate programs axed amid a restructuring plan, which Singh says “could have been avoided” with aid from the federal government under Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.

       Singh says Laurentian is vital to the North, calling the recent cuts “a devastating blow” to Indigenous and Francophone communities in the area.

       Singh is also calling for a national vaccine passport, saying the federal government has a role to play in providing Canadians with proof of vaccination that would make international and local travel easier.