"Post-secondary education will see a decrease in per student funding under this budget despite the fact that the Minister of Finance highlights a growing skills shortage as a critical risk to the British Columbian economy," said Cindy Oliver, President of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC. "Although the Ministry of Advanced Education will see a modest increase in its overall budget, that funding increase doesn't come close to meeting some of the core needs of our system," Oliver added.

"The Minister of Finance spent three quarters of her opening comments at the budget lockup talking about a so-called Green Plan that amounts to less than 1% of her total budget. Meanwhile, critical issues like how we solve a skills shortage are completely ignored," Oliver noted. "British Columbians shouldn't be fooled by Carole Taylor's fancy footwork. She delivered a budget that ignores pressing problems like the growing skills shortage, a problem she could have solved if she had put more funding into the public post-secondary education system. Instead, Taylor has once again delivered tax cuts, a move that will do nothing to address the real problems our province faces today and in the future," Oliver concluded.