Mr. Chase: Thank you. Mr. Speaker, this government has subjected postsecondary institution students and their families to a six-month-long experiment. 

Last October a trial balloon was floated to see if tuition could be significantly increased in a number of academic programs, but the government was forced to pull back last week due to sustained political pressure. To the minister: now that the minister has created a precedent for adjusting tuition rates outside of regulation, how can Albertans be certain tuition won’t be adjusted again one or two years down the road, perhaps to correct errors from 2010?

Mr. Horner: Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of inaccuracies in that preamble that would take me a lot more time than you’re going to allow me to answer. Suffice it to say that the students who worked with us on this process from the start, as admitted to by the president of CAUS during our press release when we announced this, worked with us to ensure that we were only doing this once. That was my comment, and that is the reality.

Mr. Chase: In the former reality CPI was the only increase, so here’s our new reality, which changes every day.

Given that in grade school you have to show your work on any mathematical calculations, why is this minister not bringing forward any information about the criteria or evaluation process he used to assess tuition rates?

Mr. Horner: Mr. Speaker, it’s interesting that the hon. member seems to neglect the fact that I spent an hour and a half with the students prior to announcing to anyone else what we were doing in terms of the modifiers. I explained to the students, actually about six or seven months ago when we started this process, exactly what the criteria were going to be, how we were going to assess it, and then showed them that day that that’s exactly what we did. They seemed very happy with the process.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The hon. minister of advanced education reduced and delayed the pain, but it’s there in 2011. If the minister every gets around to creating a regulation for mandatory fees, why should students believe that it will be enforced when they’ve seen tuition regulations discarded when convenient?

Mr. Horner: Mr. Speaker, the hon. member seems to be speaking like he’s talked to the students and this is what they are telling him to say. That’s exactly contrary to what is actually happening. We’re working very closely with the student associations across the province, including those associations like ASEC, which represents about 100,000 students roughly, that had no tuition increase at all other than CPI and, in some cases, not even CPI. The fact of the matter is that the CPI cap on tuition in Alberta holds, one of the few in the country to actually hold with what they had committed.

Foster Care Maximum Placement Levels

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. According to the minister there are 100 foster homes in this province that have more children than their classification allows. The minister has stated that these homes will be reassessed to ensure proper supports and services are being provided to them rather than making a commitment to halt this practice. To the minister. Rather than creating more placements or encouraging family enhancement where possible, this government chooses to disregard maximum placement levels. Why?

The Speaker: The hon. minister.

Mrs. Fritz: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don’t disregard maximum placement levels. In fact, there are very clear criteria for placing children into homes that are already level 1 or level 2 homes. If the homes for level 1, level 2 each have a licence and if the children are siblings and you’d like to keep them together, if you want to put the children into a licensed home, you need another licence in order to do that. You’re right, hon. member: I am reevaluating the situation.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Mr. Chase: Thank you. Again to the minister: what findings have emerged from the reassessment process to this point?

Mrs. Fritz: Well, Mr. Speaker, there are a number of criteria that I’ve asked the staff to look at. One is to actually see the exact number of homes. I can tell you that that assessment will take some time. According to the staff it’s going to be very detailed. I would think it’s going to be at least three to six months in order to do that. When I do have the criteria come back, as I’ve said to you before, hon. member, I will share that publicly.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Mr. Chase: Thank you. Given the time limit the minister has just put forward, will the minister table information in the fall session showing the number of foster and kinship homes exceeding their approved limits and what extra measures are in place to support these vulnerable children?

The Speaker: The hon. minister.

Mrs. Fritz: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I consider that to have already been tabled when we discussed it in Committee of Supply. As I indicated – and you were there, hon. member, because you asked the question – the staff have informed me that it is 100 homes. As I said, I’ve asked for an assessment of the homes that are in place now to be certain of an accurate number and a number of criteria regarding the placements in those homes.

Alberta Hansard, April 12, 2010

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