Mr. Chase: Mr. Speaker, Alberta has the lowest postsecondary enrolment rate in Canada, at only 14 per cent. The consequences of this government’s cutbacks to postsecondary education can be seen in the budgets recently passed by universities and colleges, who are forced to increase fees on students, cut programs, and run operating deficits. 

To the minister: is the minister satisfied with the strategy of simply downloading the province’s deficit to our universities and colleges, who then pass it on to our students?

Mr. Horner: Well, Mr. Speaker, we haven’t downloaded anything. We’re working in collaboration with our institutions and with our student bodies. In fact, as I said in the House in answer to questions of this hon. member before, we have been working very closely with the student associations throughout the province to talk about the tuition cap and how we protect it going forward. We had to fix some problems that were within the system dating back to 2004. So working collaboratively with the student bodies we fixed the problem and protected the cap, one of the few provinces in Canada that still maintains a CPI cap. This year tuition levels will be 1.5 per cent as compared to Manitoba, up to 5 per cent, as compared to Ontario, 3 per cent to 8 per cent, as compared to even Saskatchewan, which could be as high as 5 per cent. We think we’re doing very well for our students.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure that the minister’s sentiments are shared by students going into pharmacy, engineering, and business.

Does the minister think it is acceptable for universities to charge students mandatory fees ranging from $300 to $450 because this government isn’t willing to provide sufficient operating funding to postsecondary institutions?

Mr. Horner: Well, Mr. Speaker, I was searching for the letters that I received from, as an example, the Pharmacy Students’ Association, which actually requested that we approve the request from the university for the increase as a market modifier because they realized the value of their investment and the taxpayer investment.

They requested that we do that. I also have a letter from the engineering students at the U of A Faculty of Engineering suggesting that they believe that it was the right thing to do to fix the error so that we can move forward into the future. So to suggest that we’re not collaborating and talking to the students is blatantly false.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Mr. Chase: Thank you. I don’t think you’ll get the same letters if you take that route for medicine, law, and education.

Is the minister going to stand idly by while institutions like NAIT, due to lack of government funding, are forced to eliminate over a dozen programs, some of which had full registration and are unique in western Canada?

Mr. Horner: Mr. Speaker, any programs that are going to be eliminated have to get the approval of the ministry. In fact, as we understand it right now, the particular institution the hon. member is talking about is reviewing it, as I would suggest every institution in this province should be reviewing every program they’re delivering to ensure that it’s meeting the needs of the student, the taxpayer, and the economy, not the institution’s, because we serve those three clients, not the institution.

Education Funding

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government abandoned its commitment to fund a five-year agreement with teachers. Now, with the 2010-11 academic year approaching and no extra money for teachers’ salaries on the table, school boards, students, and families are about to feel the crunch. To the minister: with the Calgary board of education considering eliminating 150 positions to cover its $21 million shortfall, what plans does the minister have to prevent layoffs?

Mr. Hancock: Well, Mr. Speaker, first of all, we have not abandoned our commitment. In fact, we’re fulfilling our commitment. We fulfilled our commitment to the 5.99 per cent increase after we went through the arbitration process. That’s been done. What we haven’t done is put in a 3 per cent increase for salaries this year, the September 1 adjustment. What I’ve said to the school boards is that we need to work that out over a longer period of time and they should work with me, the school boards and the ATA, with respect to how we go into a longer term agreement.

In the meantime I’ve asked them to consider not laying off staff at the classroom level, the teachers and the support for the classrooms, and to manage it over a longer period of time.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You can’t extend a five-year contracted agreement and pay people gradually.

How can the minister continue to advocate for student-punishing Band-Aid solutions such as boards running temporary deficits or drawing on small reserves when the real problem is an ongoing funding shortfall from this province?

Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, there’s $340 million of operating reserves in this province among school boards. Not every school board has them, but across the system we have a very healthy financial statement. What I’ve said to school boards is that we need to draw on those surpluses or perhaps run a short-term deficit in order to help us work on a longer term agreement to deal with not just salaries but also other areas to make sure that the education system is strong for teachers, for the profession, for the school boards, and for the province.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Mr. Chase: Thank you. Clawing back committed surpluses seems to be the new raison d’être of this government.

Given that school boards in Medicine Hat are considering eliminating full-day kindergarten programs to cover their shortfall, will the minister admit that by not honouring the teachers’ wage agreement, this government is pushing Alberta even further away from meeting the recommendations of the Learning Commission and doing nothing to reduce our one-third dropout high school rate?

Mr. Hancock: No, Mr. Speaker, I won’t admit that at all. Again, for the benefit of this member and for the benefit of anybody on school boards that hasn’t heard me say it before, I’ll say it again: we need a longer term approach. We’re working on that longer term approach. That longer term approach will deal not just with salaries for teachers but also professional development and curriculum and other things that are in the best interest of students, in the interest of teachers as a profession, in the interest of school boards, and in the interest of the province. We’ll be working on that over a longer term, and in the short term we’re asking them to draw on their very healthy reserves.

Alberta Hansard, April 13, 2010

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