The MacKinnon Report of 2019, commissioned by the UCP govt to provide a veneer of academic credibility to the policies it already planned to implement, takes the view that it is the govt's job to decide what the priorities of post-secondary education should be. 1/n #abpoli
The report recommends (p. 42) that "the future [PSEI] funding model ensure a link between provincial macro goals and outcomes to be achieved by post-secondary institutions." 2/n @cafaab@TheAASUA#UAlberta
It is certainly not unreasonable to expect our PSEIs to serve the public interest--a goal that is to be found in their existing mission statements (which the report's authors to not appear to have read). 3/n @UAlberta@ArtsSquared@davidkahane#ableg
But do we want governments imposing their ideological directions on PSE? Micro-managing and cherry-picking which programs they want PSEIs to offer and which ones they want to eliminate, based on the views of a handful of politicians about what is good for Albertans? 4/n
The dangers of putting control of the PSEIs in the hands of a political clique and its appointees could not be clearer than they are in Alberta today, where the UCP is in the process of running the economy into the ground. 5/n @UAlberta@UCalgary@uLethbridge@UASUualberta
It will be simply disastrous for Alberta's young people and for future generations if the UCP succeeds in using its budgetary power to mold PSE to its vision of the future of our province. 6/n @AthabascaU@mountroyal4u@MacEwanU@NorQuest#abpoli
The UCP's project is entirely nostalgic, uninformed by knowledge of what is going on in the world outside our province, and unwilling to face the reality that everything is changing. Our young people need to be prepared for these changes. 7/n @UAlberta#UAlberta
Our young people deserve a post-secondary education system that can meet their needs, that can equip them with the knowledge they need to build the world they want to live in, and leave for their children. 8/n
The existing system isn't perfect, but instead of improving it, the UCP is taking a wrecking ball to our PSEIs and shrinking access to higher education by making it less affordable. This is wrong. Wrong for Albertans, and wrong for our youth. 9/n
Albertans need post-secondary education--in all its forms--more than ever. This is the worst possible time to be driving highly skilled and educated people out of the province and closing off pathways to diverse life opportunities for our young people. 10/n
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There is high-quality, independent scientific research establishing that the waters downstream and downwind of the oil sands have been contaminated by toxic chemicals produced by bitumen extraction & upgrading. 1/ #abpoli@abndpcaucus#Alberta@KeepersOfWater@APTNNews
Notably, it is not Alberta Govt agencies that have done this research. Events like the one described in this article are not one-offs; they happen continually. "Leaks" and "spills" are the industry's way of releasing pollutants. It's the same in the petro-chemicals sector. 2/
These corporations are poisoning us incrementally, while govts responsible for protecting public health and the environment are complicit--complicit because they refuse to carry out effective monitoring and enforcement. 3/
Put together the timeline for getting CCS infrastructure up and running, its cost ($70B+), predictions that global demand for oil will peak before 2030, and the economic logic that drives the decisions of the oil sands producers. 2/
It is entirely rational for these corporations to conclude that they will not recoup the investment in CCS. It's a bad bet. It's a huge chunk of the profits that can be gouged out of the Earth while demand holds. 3/
Naturally, a guy who sells commercial and office real estate thinks this is great news: "According to businesscouncilab.com’s report Alberta’s Economy: An Overview, real estate has replaced manufacturing as the second largest . . . contributor to the province’s GDP." 1/ #abpoli
But should the rest of us be cheering this development as a form of diversification of Alberta's economy? What does it mean for the creation of good, sustainable livelihoods? How stable is this form of economic growth? 2/
Note how guy holds up Ontario as an example of a big success story for real estate investors (the "tsunami" of "savvy investors"). This doesn't translate into affordable housing or employment. 3/
The UCP govt announces bursaries for nursing students. They are surely needed. But let's remember why these bursaries are needed. The UCP govt has hugely increased the cost of post-secondary education along with student debt loads. 1/ #abpse#abpoli@edmontonjournal@abndpcaucus
I have seen this time and again with conservative govts in AB, since 1991. They come at public services with machetes, wreak havoc, lay waste to programs that took years to build. 2/ @PIAlberta@FriendsMedicare@cafaab@calgaryherald@CBCNews
Their policies are not based on research; they don't listen to experts and professionals working in the field; they prefer the advice of their ideological gurus. They have deep antipathy to any service or good qualified by "public." 3/
@AlbertaatNoon show today interviewed a doctor who works on the Blood Reserve in southern #Alberta. She reported that the deaths of Indigenous persons have increased substantially since the safe injection centre was closed in Lethbridge by the UCP govt. 1/ #abpoli@APTNNews
Users of addiction and other services are disproportionately Indigenous because of history of trauma and poverty--conditions created & perpetuated by colonialism. 2/
The young adults who die may leave behind children, who may end up in foster care. 3/
The UCP has shown time and again that it is willing to strip away democratic rights and to criminalize or treat as "treasonous" / unAlbertan anyone supporting a just transition from fossil fuel extraction to a green economy. 1/
Smith's AB Sovereignty Act is also supposed to serve the purpose of protecting oil & gas corporations from federal environmental regulation. As the industry faces more pressure to decarbonize, its petro-politicians take more extreme actions to insulate it. 2/
Oil and democracy have never mixed. To keep squeezing revenue out of their investments, this industry is prepared to see both AB's economy and democratic institutions crumble. 3/