Provincial Priorities Act Exemptions Release 

CALGARY——The University of Calgary Graduate Students’ Association (UCGSA) is grateful to see that the recently announced regulations for the Provincial Priorities Act exempt research funding, student employment, work experience, continuing education, and conferences.  

The UCGSA Advocacy Team has been advocating on this issue to the Minister of Advanced Education, and the Government of Alberta more broadly, since it was announced in April of last year. We expressed concern that the Act would add layers of red tape to the granting process, delaying scholarship opportunities and degree completion for students and resulting in massive funding losses for graduate programs and Albertan universities. The released regulations help ensure that key funding for students remains free from unnecessary bureaucratic procedures to the benefit of students, post-secondary institutions, and Alberta’s economy more broadly.  

We would like to thank Minister Rajan Sawhney, and her government colleagues, for sitting down with us and listening to our concerns. We would also like to thank Shadow Minister David Eggen, and his Official Opposition colleagues, for doing the same. And we would like to emphasize that our advocacy was part of a larger coalition of concerned stakeholders, including other graduate student associations at the University of Alberta and Athabasca University, as well as government relations and senior leadership officials in the University of Calgary and University of Alberta.