2023 UCP Alberta election

[dimsum]

The government idea of moving 500 online staff to Athabasca is beyond idiotic. Why?

- Nobody but the locals want to live there.

Camping,summer excursions, etc - sure. But who has ever said to themselves “I want to move to the thriving metropolis of Athabasca!”

Military members:

 

[Quirky]

Cold lake members:

FTFY

 

[daftandbarmy]

$3.4M operating grant... per month

For a school where a vast majority of its students do online courses, and who's instructors mostly work from home also. (This was the case long before the pandemic...)

So 43,000 online students - which will fluctuate up & down throughout the year - but in average about 43,000. All paying tuition, course fee's, admin fee's, textbook/materials that must be purchased from the university, etc

Where does all the money go?

Surely the course tuition paid by students pays a majority of staff costs. All the other admin fees I'm sure could cover most other things...

But $3.4M a month in provincial government money? Holy hell!


(I'll post on this again later today. Going to call my old man & try to get some better insight into how this all works)

You are sailing into murky waters so beware! Post-secondary funding models are amongst the most opaque, and politically contentious, sacred cattle in existence

Public funding is still the major source of funding in most Canadian provinces​

Nationally, public funding has declined as a proportion of total revenue for colleges, standing at 54.7% in 2019/2020, a higher proportion than for universities (47.1%). The overall decline in public funding has largely been driven by the increased reliance on student fees in Ontario and British Columbia. However, it remains the main source of funding in the rest of the provinces and territories. More than 7 in 10 dollars of total college revenue came from public funding in Nunavut (88.8%), Quebec (85.7%), Yukon (82.9%), Newfoundland and Labrador (77.6%), Northwest Territories (76.7%), Nova Scotia (73.3%), Saskatchewan (72.7%), and New Brunswick (72.0%) in 2019/2020.

Overall, public funding for colleges and universities is determined by provincial and territorial budgets, with each jurisdiction having its own funding models. At the institutional level, universities and colleges also receive operational grants based on past budgets, enrolments and special needs on a case-by-case basis.

Statistics Canada - We're sorry! The website is currently unavailable / Statistique Canada : Nous sommes désolés! Le site Web n'est pas disponible pour le moment

Statistics Canada provides economic, social and census data / Statistique Canada fournit des données sur l'économie, la société et le recensement.

www150.statcan.gc.ca

 

[CBH99]

You are sailing into murky waters so beware! Post-secondary funding models are amongst the most opaque, and politically contentious, sacred cattle in existence

Public funding is still the major source of funding in most Canadian provinces​

Nationally, public funding has declined as a proportion of total revenue for colleges, standing at 54.7% in 2019/2020, a higher proportion than for universities (47.1%). The overall decline in public funding has largely been driven by the increased reliance on student fees in Ontario and British Columbia. However, it remains the main source of funding in the rest of the provinces and territories. More than 7 in 10 dollars of total college revenue came from public funding in Nunavut (88.8%), Quebec (85.7%), Yukon (82.9%), Newfoundland and Labrador (77.6%), Northwest Territories (76.7%), Nova Scotia (73.3%), Saskatchewan (72.7%), and New Brunswick (72.0%) in 2019/2020.

Overall, public funding for colleges and universities is determined by provincial and territorial budgets, with each jurisdiction having its own funding models. At the institutional level, universities and colleges also receive operational grants based on past budgets, enrolments and special needs on a case-by-case basis.

Statistics Canada - We're sorry! The website is currently unavailable / Statistique Canada : Nous sommes désolés! Le site Web n'est pas disponible pour le moment

Statistics Canada provides economic, social and census data / Statistique Canada fournit des données sur l'économie, la société et le recensement.

www150.statcan.gc.ca

If I’m doing my math correctly…

43,000 online students + course & admin fee’s for each student + $3.4 million per month + minimal physical overhead because it’s online = a f**k ton of money



Am I supposed to carry the one to the next column? I forget

(Jk jk - I didn’t forget, I don’t think I’ve ever known tbh)

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Hence why I always respond to those who smugly say "I paid for my education "...."no you didn't, you paid for about 10% of it, working people paid the rest".

 

[QV]

This article provides a good explanation why the Sovereignty Act is an important tool to fight Trudeau's destructive policies.

The Trudeau apologists will be along shortly to rail against this, but I don't think it's hyperbolic to suggest at this point if you are for Trudeau's energy policies then you are against the interests of Canada.

 

[Lumber]

This article provides a good explanation why the Sovereignty Act is an important tool to fight Trudeau's destructive policies.

The Trudeau apologists will be along shortly to rail against this, but I don't think it's hyperbolic to suggest at this point if you are for Trudeau's energy policies then you are against the interests of Canada.

You know you that you can be against the Sov Act and also against Trudeau? Right? Said another way, being against the Sov Act does not make you pro-Trudeau/LPC. You do see this, don't you?

 

[QV]

You know you that you can be against the Sov Act and also against Trudeau? Right? Said another way, being against the Sov Act does not make you pro-Trudeau/LPC. You do see this, don't you?

You certainly could be, but it would make zero sense.

 

[brihard]

Hence why I always respond to those who smugly say "I paid for my education "...."no you didn't, you paid for about 10% of it, working people paid the rest".

I got curious about this some years ago and did a surface dive into how my school was funded. All in it looked like roughly half of my university’s operating costs came from some sort of public funded support, the rest largely from tuition and endowments. This would have been a bit over a decade ago. That was in Ontario, and tracks with what @daftandbarmy shared.

I haven’t done a similar comparison for Athabasca, but I remember finding their per-course tuition quite high when I did a couple classes through them. I would be surprised if they weren’t at least comparable in how much of their costs were paid by tuition.

 

[Lumber]

You certainly could be, but it would make zero sense.

It must be nice to have your whole world view wrapped up in a tight little unyielding box. Having to actually think critically and change opinions is soooo exhausting.

 

[QV]

It must be nice to have your whole world view wrapped up in a tight little unyielding box. Having to actually think critically and change opinions is soooo exhausting.

It is exhausting being a contrarian. But I enjoy it, and do believe in this circumstance it is the moral high ground.

 

[Lumber]

It is exhausting being a contrarian. But I enjoy it, and do believe in this circumstance it is the moral high ground.

If one holds a contrarian view without sufficient evidence or reasoning, it's not moral; it's foolish or uninformed.

 

[QV]

Tell us all how it's done then. How would Lumber fight back against Trudeau's damaging policies?

 

[Lumber]

Tell us all how it's done then. How would Lumber fight back against Trudeau's damaging policies?

Ummm... Did you forget how democracy works? You vote.

 

[Weinie]

Ummm... Did you forget how democracy works? You vote.

Ummmmmmm........and you forget how "democracy" works in Canada. The 416/905 vote determines how "democracy" is demanded.

 

[brihard]

Ummmmmmm........and you forget how "democracy" works in Canada. The 416/905 vote determines how "democracy" is demanded.

And yet the Conservatives formed minority governments in 2006 and 2008 despite the Liberals dominating the GTA. At that time, the Liberals didn't dominate the greater Montreal region the way they have since Trudeau became leader- that actually seems to have been a big deal in tipping the scales for them.

It's disappointing you see you putting the quote marks around the word "democracy", as if liking or not liking the results (and I also don't like the results) speaks to the legitimacy or validity of the system as a whole. We have a properly functioning Westminster parliamentary democracy, but unfortunately the currently largest opposition party struggles to get its poop in a group and to offer us leaders who can win elections.

 

[McG]

We have democracy, but the large number of people who feel disenfranchised across the country would suggest that we could still have more democracy.

The idea that Toronto & environs form some sort of monolithic block that denies representation to other parts of the country is nonsense. Toronto gets what its biggest minority picks.

FPTP is what is disenfranchising voters. Conservative voters in Toronto lack a voice in Ottawa. Liberal voters in Calgary lack a voice in Ottawa. Both big parties will ignore swaths of the country to focus where the outcome is perceived to be contested.

 

[brihard]

FPTP is what is disenfranchising voters. Conservative voters in Toronto lack a voice in Ottawa. Liberal voters in Calgary lack a voice in Ottawa. Both big parties will ignore swaths of the country to focus where the outcome is perceived to be contested.

This. I remain in favour of electoral reform that would add some greater degree of proportionality to our representation, as long as there's some sort of threshold safeguard for party list seats (say, 5 %, similar to how Germany does it?)

 

[Brad Sallows]

We have democracy, but we live next door to a country with a lot more democracy.

• elected executive, who is elected separately from the legislators
• bicameral legislature, both bodies elected, both bodies with real political power
• similar model at state levels (except NE)
• additional state-level elected positions
• frequent elections on fixed dates

FPTP isn't necessarily the problem, particularly if alternate schemes would tend to strengthen the LPC/NDP lock on control of Parliament.

 

[QV]

Ummm... Did you forget how democracy works? You vote.

I guess you could say the same thing about the Sov Act.