The Alberta Government has proposed their 2013 Budget, and the funding to Post-Secondary Institutions was cut by $147-million, which makes up about 7% of 2012-2013 operating budget.
Along with these cuts, Premier Redford and Minister Lukaszuk have spoken about minimizing the duplication of programs across Alberta, and Minister Lukaszuk will be sending out mandate letters to the 26 post-secondary institutions of Alberta. His mandate letter will be "compelling schools to start working together". This in itself is not a bad idea, and works as a helpful suggestion. However, the government, while providing funding to these insitutions, does not control or own them. They are autonomous facilities, and should remain so. It is imperative that we--as students, faculty, and concerned individuals--stand up for the autonomy of our post-secondary institutions.
The government has no control or right to manage the public sector, which these institutions belong to, and we need to tell them!
Sign this petition to let our govermnment officials know that we won't stand idly by while they attempt to intervene in the management and content of our post-secondary institutions!