What today’s UCP announcement reveals most is that neither the Premier nor anyone else in the UCP have a clue about how Tri-Council funding works, and how important that funding is to the sustainability of post-secondary institutions, researchers, and students.
No federal research funding? That means no innovations, no discoveries of new treatments for disease, no creativity, no science. Research costs money. Most federal research grants do not fund professors’ salaries - they fund graduate student researchers, labs, materials, etc.
Top researchers will leave Alberta. Researchers that businesses and communities depend upon will move to places where their research is valued, not considered suspect. And forget about recruiting new researchers or graduate students. The post-secondary sector will wither and die.
And maybe that’s the point. It’s well known that this government doesn’t value expertise. Consultations on everything from health care to curriculum, to environment and so on are all just performative. The illusion of consultation is what it’s all about for the UCP.
It’s long past time for Albertans to mobilize. The UCP’s repugnant assault on our public systems cannot stand. Enough is enough.
@cpeck3 Who can help mobilize Albertans to take to the streets? A show of numbers that the media cannot ignore or gloss over. That would show the UCP how unpopular they are and how unhappy we are.