News
Read the latest news in BC post-secondary education.
BC Budget 2006 Backgrounder
In her 2006 budget speech Finance Minister Carol Taylor describes how the BC Liberals’ fiscal choices are giving priority to education and training. The Minister states that: “We are allocating $400 million over four years to increase training and skills development, and help more people connect with opportunities.” (2006 Budget Speech, page 6) She also…
Budget 2006 won't meet 'Great Goals' in post-secondary
“Premier Campbell wants BC to be ‘the most literate and best educated’ in Canada, but his 2006 Budget falls well-short of funding those goals,” said Cindy Oliver, President of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE) which represents over 10,000 faculty and staff in BC’s post-secondary education system. “BC’s public post-secondary system needs at least $200…
BC's Throne Speech: 'Transformative', but for whom?
With the launch of a new legislative session, the BC government’s Throne Speech has signaled that its new mandate may soon begin to look a lot like its first four years. Rather than look for ways to strengthen core public services like health care and education, the Campbell government is now talking about how to…
Kamloops public forum calls for changes to skills training
“When employers and unions start to sound the same alarm bell about BC’s skills training deficit, smart governments would pay close attention to what we are saying,” said Cindy Oliver, President of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE). Oliver was speaking at a BC Federation of Labour-FPSE sponsored public forum on BC’s looming skills shortage…
Investing in education for low-income adults pays off
The province must invest in education programs for low-income adults with upgrading needs if it wants achieve its goal of making BC the best-educated and most literate jurisdiction in North America. Shauna Butterwick, an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at UBC, is the author of “A Path out of Poverty: Helping Low-Income…
Minority status will put pressure on Harper
Voters across Canada have once again defied pollsters and pundits with election results that will force Stephen Harper’s minority government to proceed with caution as they work to form a new government. Although most pollsters predicted that Harper would not win a majority, most felt his momentum in the final weeks of the campaign would…
FPSE's developmental education proposal outlined for Deputy Minister
“It’s time to re-think provincial policies that have undermined access to our public post-secondary education system for our most vulnerable students,” said Cindy Oliver, President of FPSE. Oliver was commenting after outlining a proposal to improve the access and affordability of the post-secondary education system. The FPSE proposal, which was drafted by a working group…
Deputy Minister meets with FPSE Presidents' Council
BC’s new Deputy Minister of Advanced Education, Moura Quayle, met with members of FPSE’s Presidents’ Council to initiate an on-going dialogue with faculty members from around the province. “Council members were impressed with her openness and see this meeting as hopefully the first of many regular meetings with the Deputy to share our perspective and…
Unions rally for Layton
Over 500 union and community activists from across the Lower Mainland rallied in downtown Vancouver over the weekend to show their support for NDP leader Jack Layton. The crowd also heard from provincial and national labour leaders including BC Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair and Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti added. Georgetti reminded…