Congratulations to the Liberal Party and Prime Minister Mark Carney

April 29th, 2025

The University of Calgary Graduate Students’ Association (UCGSA) congratulates Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberal Party on their electoral victory.

Mr. Carney and his party will face turbulent times in government, and as was mentioned in the letter sent to the major federal party leaders during the campaign, graduate students are a vital source of problem-solving know-how for policymakers to draw from. We are major drivers of innovation and key partners for both the private and not-for-profit sectors, all of which are important for tackling Canada’s productivity crisis. Our research is also at the frontier of many strategic fields, such as artificial intelligence, sustainable energy, food security, Arctic security, and medicine. Graduate students can additionally act as an important source of “science diplomacy,” a way of using universities to connect Canadian businesses and people to foreign markets.

Graduate students also face challenges, both financial and regulatory. Stipends are uncompetitive from an international perspective: for example, Austria pays its doctoral students five times as much, on average, as Canada does. The current caps on international students brought in by the previous Liberal government also restrict universities’ ability to recruit new research talent, especially those fleeing from the United States. And there is deep concern over the insertion of culture war rhetoric in conversations around federal research, when the focus should be on making the grant application process as efficient as possible. These areas must be addressed if Canada’s graduate programs—and its economy more broadly—are to reach their full potential.

We also want to extend our congratulations to MP-elect for Calgary Confederation, Corey Hogan. As the past Vice President—Communications and Community Outreach for the University of Calgary, we know research, innovation, and technological competitiveness will be top priorities for the incoming government. A vibrant economy needs quality innovators, and those quality innovators need stable housing, proper support, and just compensation for their work. We look forward to collaborating with Mr. Hogan and other MPs as he advocates for these issues in Parliament.