REGINA – Minister of Advanced Education Ken Cheveldayoff was having none of the recent NDP criticism regarding the rounds layoffs at Sask Polytechnic.
The latest criticism from the Opposition on Monday was over a letter posted by Saskatchewan Organization of Faculty Associations, calling for more funding and expressing concerns about the cuts to over 100 staff at the four Sask Polytechnic campuses across Saskatchewan.
In the last number of weeks, the NDP has blamed provincial underfunding for the situation at Sask Polytechnic, and they have called for the government to step in to halt the cuts.
When asked Monday about whether the government would intervene to stop the cuts, Cheveldayoff took aim at the NDP.
“Yeah, I understand the NDP are trying to score political points with this. I’m very disappointed. Once again, they’re lost and bewildered,” said Cheveldayoff.
“They don’t have any credibility on this file.”
On the topic of advanced education, Cheveldayoff said the NDP “didn’t even mention this in their campaign platform a year ago. So they have no credibility on this.”
Cheveldayoff once again said the layoffs were a situation resulting from the reductions to visa permits for international students by the federal government — something the province has been lobbying against.
“This is a federally created situation that affects every institution in the country. So we’re disappointed with that.”
Cheveldayoff also told reporters that the government is “making sure that our institutions are amongst the best funded in Canada.” The minister also pointed to the prospect of good funding news coming soon — referring to the likelihood of new funding agreements being concluded with post-secondary institutions in the province.
“The Speech from the Throne… alluded to the very good news that we’re going to be having very shortly in the Legislature talking about all of our post-secondary institutions.”
As for concerns raised by faculty that there could be further rounds of cuts, Cheveldayoff said the “speculation is not helpful. And what I can say is there’s going to be some very, very, very good news coming shortly.”
Cheveldayoff added that the “long-term future of the institutions looks very bright. And it will look even brighter when I have an opportunity to make public the information I’d like to share with you today, but I can’t.”
At the legislature in the afternoon, NDP Advanced Education critic Tajinder Grewal pointed to the letter from Saskatchewan Organization of Faculty Associations. He made it known he wasn’t prepared to wait much longer for any “good news” from the province about advanced education
“The layoffs are happening right now,” said Grewal. “We need action right now, not in three months, six months.”
He said when the faculty go to work, “they’re worried or they may get pink stamped tomorrow or today. So we need action right now. We cannot wait for five, six months of the year to do the actions.”
When asked about Cheveldayoff’s criticism of the NDP for trying to score political points, Grewal made it known the concerns were coming from the faculty — not them.
“This is not NDP calling about that. You can’t blame the NDP. You talk to the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Faculty Association — they put a letter there, too.
They are very much concerned. It’s not the NDP calling about that. All these people are calling about that. We are just advocating for these associations.”
