ULFA Executive Meetings with NDP Opposition Leader and PSE Shadow Critic

On October 2nd, the Executive Committee met, at his request, with the leader of the Official Opposition, Naheed Nenshi in the ULFA Office. It was a wide-ranging, very informative discussion with Mr. Nenshi asking to learn more about the University of Lethbridge, the community here, and the effect of recent changes in the admission of international students. He shared with us his own experience as an academic. Much of the discussion was about the rapid rise in the number of international students at the U of L and the Navitas/UICC partnership. 

On October 4th, members of the ULFA Executive also had a substantive, hour-long discussion with Mr. David Eggen, the Opposition critic for Advanced Education, covering a range of topics. In both meetings we also discussed operating budget cuts, which have been very difficult, and Bill 18, which introduces provincial government overreach in research funding, thereby discouraging research talent from moving to or staying in Alberta, as one can see already happening. Other pressing issues included secret mandates from the government in collective bargaining and article 26(1) of the PSLA, which seeks to subordinate the General Faculties Council (GFC) to the Board, raising serious concerns.

Mr. Nenshi agreed that the current bargaining situation in the public sector Alberta is made much worse due to secret government mandates. We discussed at length the devastating effect of government cuts on our students, impressing him with our concern on this. Mr. Eggen appeared receptive to the idea of increased post-secondary funding, with greater transparency in its use, and expressed support for institutional autonomy and the value of “leaving things to the experts” without undue interference. We also discussed the Navitas/UICC partnership with Mr. Eggen, which was keen to learn more about, and the concerning decline in domestic student enrolment. Overall, the tone in both meetings seemed notably friendlier and more optimistic than what is often encountered from those currently in charge.