Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC

"I don't know what happened to their so-called Heartland strategy, but the latest provincial budget is completely ignoring the mounting job crisis we see in the Central Interior," said Cindy Oliver, President of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE). Oliver is in Prince George to speak at a public forum set for 5 p.m. March 11 at the College of New Caledonia (CNC). She will share the podium with two other speakers: Brian Harder, provincial representative for the United Steelworkers and Peter Ewart from the Stand Up for the North community coalition.

February 2008 marks Carol Taylor's last budget as BC's Finance Minister. She will, no doubt, be remembered for many things - expensive shoes, fashionable eyewear - but her performance on February 19 will go down in the record books as another blinding display of political distraction. In both the budget look-up and in her speech in the Legislature she made much of the government's "green" budget.

"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.

Budget season is upon us and Finance Ministers at both the federal and provincial levels are looking at a wide range of program and funding options. If these Ministers did some careful analysis, they would find public dollars directed at programs that increase essential skills like literacy and English Language Training (ELT) have tremendous benefits not only for individuals, but also for the public treasury that fund these programs in the first place.

On January 27, our Federation is hosting a forum on critical post-secondary education issues. The event will bring together labour leaders from BC's largest unions, representatives from Metro Vancouver's Chinese-speaking community, Lower Mainland MLAs, representatives from the Canadian Federation of Students as well as Presidents from our Lower Mainland locals.

Those murders eighteen years ago have become a stark reminder to us all of the problem of violence against women. According to the United Nations, at least one in three women in the world has been severely abused in her lifetime. Even more disturbing, many of those abuses are at the hands of a family member and lead to disability or death.

In the years since December 6, 1989, we have also been reminded that our schools and post-secondary campuses are not immune from violence.

When Geoff Plant was first appointed to conduct the Campus 2020 review of BC's post-secondary education system, caution flags were raised. Many wondered how the former BC Liberal Cabinet Minister could bring objectivity to such an important review. After all, this was the same Geoff Plant who sat at the provincial cabinet table when massive and profoundly regressive changes to BC's post-secondary education system were both conceived and approved.

After almost a year of review, Plant's final report was released.

The start of November marks an important date in all our calendars. It was six years ago this month that BC's lowest paid workers got a raise.

The start of November marks an important date in all our calendars. It was six years ago this month that BC's lowest paid workers got a raise. In the intervening six years inflation has jumped by a 13%, average weekly earnings have increased by 15%, and BC's economy has grown by over 20%. Despite that growth, BC's minimum wage has remained unchanged.

Throughout the week of October 22-26, post-secondary educators across Canada will be working to advance the cause of fair employment for non-regular faculty. The events of this week are part of a North American-wide effort by post-secondary educators to ensure that non-regular faculty have the same rights, benefits and protections as regular faculty members have.

Throughout the week of October 22-26, post-secondary educators across Canada will be working to advance the cause of fair employment for non-regular faculty.

When she presented her February 2006 provincial budget, Finance Minster Carole Taylor set aside $90 million for a proposed training tax credit program. Her idea was to provide employers with tax credit incentives that would hopefully increase the level of training across the province.

There is no question that BC needs to invest more in post-secondary education and training. Both the BC Business Council and the BC Chamber of Commerce have noted that BC already has a skills gap.