For immediate release: Monday, May 12, 2003

EDMONTON – The goals of the new Post-Secondary Learning Act introduced to the Legislature this afternoon will not be achieved without appropriate funding for post-secondary education, says the president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.

"Appropriate funding for all post-secondary institutions remains the key to providing educational opportunities for Albertans throughout our province," said AUPE President Dan MacLennan.

"It is generally agreed that a strong post-secondary program is in turn the key to ensuring Alberta’s future economic success," said MacLennan.

"There are some very good ideas set out in this piece of legislation," said the president of AUPE, which represents approximately 7,500 non-academic staff of Alberta post-secondary institutions. "Among these ideas is the effort to make post-secondary education accessible to Albertans in all parts of the province, and to ease transferability among Alberta post-secondary institutions.

"But the success of these ideas all depend on adequate funding, so that institutions can offer needed programs in safe and properly run settings, and so that students can afford the tuition to study in their own province," MacLennan stated.

The legislation introduced today was first announced Thursday by Learning Minister Lyle Oberg during AUPE’s annual Education Sector Conference in Canmore.

Oberg told approximately 80 AUPE delegates and others from across the province at the conference that the legislation will combine the Universities Act, the Colleges Act, the Technical Institutes Act and the Banff Centre Act.

He said the goal in part would be to make it easier for post-secondary students in Alberta to transfer among institutions. The new act will also allow colleges and technical institutions to grant baccalaureate degrees – a move Oberg said would make post-secondary education more accessible to Albertans from smaller communities.

Oberg assured the AUPE delegates that measures would be put in place to ensure that colleges maintain high standards in their degree programs. "We cannot have institutes in Alberta putting out second-rate degrees," he stated.

MacLennan thanked Oberg for making an important policy announcement at a union conference, and lauded the AUPE members for welcoming a conservative politician and taking the opportunity to ask the minister tough questions about funding levels for post-secondary education.

"Too often groups like ours sit around and just talk to ourselves and the people we agree with," MacLennan told the delegates. "If we want to make change, we also have to talk to the people who are in power."

Other MLAs to address the AUPE conference and take questions from delegates were Dr. Ken Nicol, Liberal member for Lethbridge East and leader of the official Opposition, and Denis Herard, Conservative member for Calgary-Egmont and Chair of the Standing Policy Committee on Learning and Employment.

AUPE is Alberta’s largest union, with more than 53,000 members.

For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)