Post-secondary education

Public Interest Alberta is pleased to release Priorities for Advancing the Public Interest.

The Alberta government has released its 2018 budget, which includes effective cuts to most areas of public services, as spending fails to keep pace with inflation and population growth.
 
“The piecemeal cuts to public services in the budget take Alberta in the wrong direction, but the striking thing is what is not in the budget,” said Joel French, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “Absent are many things Albertans need, like improved classroom conditions in schools and addressing the shortage of long-term care beds for seniors.”

EDMONTON - Public Interest Alberta is attending a Government of Alberta consultation regarding the 2018 provincial budget in order to encourage major changes in the province’s approach to revenue and spending.

"The Prentice government's pre-election budget would have resulted in larger class sizes, fewer students enrolling in post-secondary education, less capacity in our health care system, and seniors losing their drug benefits," said Joel French, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta."

"Every year for the past several years, the Alberta government’s budget documents have included a graph titled 'Alberta's Tax Advantage'. The graph shows how much revenue the government would raise if it had the same tax structure as each of Canada’s nine other provinces. The graph ought to be more appropriately titled 'Alberta’s Revenue Disadvantage.'"

In April 2015, Public Interest Alberta released a report entitled "A Just and Fair Alberta: Priorities for Change," which was designed to serve as a key resource for individuals and organizations in Alberta's 2015 provincial election.

EDMONTON—Public Interest Alberta is releasing A Fair and Just Alberta: Priorities for Change, designed to serve as a key resource for individuals and organizations in the coming provincial election.“The election presents a major opportunity for those who care about public services to make a difference in our province,” said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “It is important that we all take advantage of this chance to advocate effectively for much-needed revenue reform that will provide the foundation for much stronger public services, and to state clearly what should be the priorities for change.”

EDMONTON—The Alberta Government’s 2015-16 budget was released today and brought in some modest changes to our revenue system that will increase the tax load on average Albertans without touching the huge tax benefits for wealthy individuals and corporations.

“Alberta could have fixed our unfair tax system, which still leaves us $10.6 billion lower in tax revenue than the second-lowest tax jurisdiction in Canada,” said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “Instead, Alberta’s families will feel the impact of larger class sizes, fewer students enrolling in post-secondary education, seniors losing their drug benefits, and cities losing much-needed infrastructure funds.”

Just a few days ago we launched a new campaign called "Post-Secondary Education is the Answer" to call for increased government investment in post-secondary education (PSE). PSE can provide the answers to many of the important questions our society is facing today, like how we improve our health care and education systems, how we diversify and strengthen our economy, and how we deal with the growing environmental challenges our province faces. Please attend one of these meetings to hear about the public advocacy campaign and to share your ideas about the importance of post-secondary education. These meetings will all take place from 12:00 PM (noon) to 1:30 PM. Lunch will be provided.

Public Interest Alberta in partnership with undergraduate students, graduate students, staff unions, and faculty associations from across the province is launching a public advocacy campaign called “Post-Secondary Education is the Answer” to mobilize the public to speak out for greater investments in post-secondary education (PSE).