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2010 Mar 25 (Thu)

Funding for Postsecondary Education

Kevin questions the Minister of Advanced Education and Technology on funding cuts for the U of A.

 

635 Alberta Hansard Wednesday March 24, 2010

Dr. Taft: Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Advanced Education and Technology has been playing word games with information about this government’s funding for universities. Well, the game is up. The province’s cuts to the University of Alberta will be public in the next few days. To that minister: why hasn’t the Minister of Advanced Education been honest with the public and openly told people that the government’s funding for the U of A is going to lead to serious hardships?

Mr. Horner: Well, Mr. Speaker, first of all, I take exception to the insinuation that I haven’t been honest with this House. That is entirely not the truth, and the hon. member should probably retract that statement.

Dr. Taft: Well, since the minister has already been briefed on the U of A’s budget, will he now have the guts to tell this Assembly how many staff positions at the U of A are going to be lost because of this government’s cuts?

Mr. Horner: Mr. Speaker, the University of Alberta’s budget, when you remove prepaid amounts from the previous year, when you take the new funding framework plus the EPE that was in there last year, is at a zero base budget from what the granting program was last year. The hon. member is quite aware, as I think it’s been widely reported in the media, that there are other, extenuating circumstances that have affected the U of A’s budget. Quite frankly, we fund about 63 to 64 per cent of what the operating budget is at the University of Alberta. The hon. member, I’m sure, knows this.

Dr. Taft: Well, Mr. Speaker, the word games continue. The facts will be clear by the weekend. Given that this minister knows that enrolment at the U of A is going to be cut because this government has failed to keep its word, how many student spaces will be eliminated at the U of A this fall, Mr. Minister?

Mr. Horner: Well, again, Mr. Speaker, the growth at the university, as per the previous meetings I’ve had with the provost at the university, is going to be slowed. The growth: that is not a cut; it’s slowing down the growth at the University of Alberta because of the economic condition that we’re in. We look forward to the years to come to renew the type of growth that we’ve had in the province, second to none I would add.

 

 

Date: Thu Mar 25 21:55:04 MDT 2010 Author: Rebecca IP: 68.149.137.22