To Whom It May Concern:
On May 8th, Bill 40 was introduced to the Legislative Assembly. As of now
it has passed second reading. I encourage you to read this Bill and write
to your MLA as well as the Minister of Education, Denis Herard
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, who introduced this Bill. This Bill will
remove legislative controls from the process by which tuition costs are
adjusted essentially removing the element of Transparency from this process.
This will allow drastic changes in tuition from year to year without
consultation with or fair warning to Albertans.
Why is this Bill a problem? Visit:
http://www.su.ualberta.ca/su/student_government/advocacy
Also, read the article from today pasted below by Tom Olsen
To see Bill 40, go to:
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p=bills_bill&selectbill=040
To see the Post Secondary Learning Act, go to:
http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/documents/Acts/P19P5.cfm
To see the status of Bill 40, go to:
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p=bills_status&selectbill=040
What can you do? Write a letter to your MLA and to Denis Herard expressing
your opposition to Bill 40. You can find out who your MLA is and how to
contact them at <http://www.assembly.ab.ca/lao/mla/mla_help.htm#Min>
I have attached an example letter sent to me by Samantha Power that a
student might write to Minister Herard. If you are not a student, or you
are sending the letter to your MLA you will need to make some changes to the
letter so that it will fit the individual situation.
If you have any questions feel free to contact the Students' Union
President, Samantha Power <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, or the VP
External for the Students' Union, Dave Cournoyer
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Thank You,
Theresa Chapman
Students' Councillor, Faculty of Science
Students' Union, University of Alberta
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tuition policy on the fly, in the dark
Tom Olsen, Calgary Herald
Published: Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Rookie cabinet minister Denis Herard's first big communications challenge
came Monday -- explaining why government wants to change its tuition policy
from legislation to quick-change regulation.
He had a hard time pulling it off.
The minister of advanced education (on the job for five weeks now) tried a
couple of communications tactics -- it's not an issue because few have
contacted him; the existing set-up isn't working -- but fell short of a
convincing case.
Herard says if the tuition policy for Alberta's post-secondary students
(covered in government Bill 40) isn't punched through now, it will have to
wait until next spring.
And the vaunted goal for students -- that they shell out fewer dollars to
study -- will be delayed.
"Right now, the policy is in legislation, and what did it buy us? It bought
us high tuition fees," said the minister. "That's what we're trying to
solve.
"The fact is, when you put it in regulation, you have a position then to
have continuous improvement on all of the things that happen."
That's one take on it. The powers that be can overhaul the policy for the
better without the bother and time of running it through the legislature.
But that's exactly the point critics are trying to make.
In a rare show of solidarity for Alberta's Liberals and New Democrats, they
joined student leaders and education advocates to slag Herard and the party
he represents.
The problem isn't what happens in the near term -- they're willing to accept
there's no nefarious intent with tuition fees for 2007-08. It's what
potentially comes later.
"If you put it under regulation, it's only the tuition policy until the
government thinks it has to change it," said Calgary Liberal MLA Dave
Taylor.
Then it's a few strokes of a pen behind closed doors.
"The governing party ultimately gets its way," Taylor said. "But if it's in
legislation, if the intent is to amend the policy, they have to bring it to
the floor of the legislature. There it's subject to, at least in theory, a
democratic debate."
That's the crux right there -- if the Tories or any government that follows
want to alter something as critically important as a student's financial
load, they'd have to do it out front of everyone. They'd have to suffer the
bashing of opponents in the process. Messy, yes, but that's democracy,
right?
Making tuition policy subject to regulation means changes can be handled
with an order-in-council, the news of which goes public after-the-fact.
But hold on -- Herard insists orders-in-council are also subject to input:
"You can't pass an OC (order-in-council) without doing a consultation, so
what's the problem with that?"
How does that work? Cabinet ministers consulting each other ("Yep,
