LAKELAND - The political activity surrounding the vacant MLA seat in the Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche provincial constituency has created some welcome attention to the community at the tail end of the riding. In recent weeks, visits by UCP hopefuls, Wildrose Party candidates and NDP selections to the Lac La Biche area have helped put the community, and its attractions, into the spotlight.
Portage College President Nancy Broadbent said that while the college takes a strictly non-political stance when it comes to its operations, the recent provincial political scene has showcased the college to some new and familiar faces.
"We've had a number of visitors coming through," said Broadbent on Thursday, the day after current NDP critic for Advanced Education David Eggen stopped in for a chat and a tour of the Lac La Biche campus. Eggen was on his way to Fort McMurray to speak with the party's newly selected candidate Ariana Mancini and visit Keyano College.
Two days before, NDP leader Rachel Notley had made the same trip, hosting a news conference in Fort McMurray to welcome the candidate looking to take the vacant MLA seat in an upcoming provincial by-election.
Broadbent said the recent visits are great way to "get the narrative of who we are and who we serve" to a wider audience. The recent visit by Eggen was also a chance for student leaders to show-off their campus, she said.
"Students' Association members took him all over. They wanted to show him how proud they are of where they are and what they do," she said, adding that her discussions with Eggen were more of an informal chat and update.
Eggen spoke with Lakeland This Week after his Portage visit. He said the constituency's available seat was a big reason for his trip, but also said the visit is part of a planned tour of universities and colleges.
"The Legislature finished its session last week, so I was anxious to get out and travel the province visiting colleges and universities," he said, as he was departing Portage last Wednesday morning and heading towards Keyano College in Fort McMurray.
Eggen said a focus of the visits is to discuss the budget implications of cuts to the province's 26 post-secondary institutions implemented over the last few years by the current UCP government. In the case of Portage, he said, those cuts equate to a 17 per cent reduction in their operating costs
"Portage College has taken a huge hit. I would say they are in the top five that have had significant reductions ... That is quite significant for a smaller school in rural Alberta," he said, adding quickly that despite the size, Portage serves a great need that needs to be expanded across the region. "Portage is a very important part of the overall education picture in the region and the province, and a huge part of the economy and future of the entire region."
The current Edmonton North West MLA, Eggen said his pledge would be to return all the funding cuts to the college, and others in the province.
"I think that if we are fortunate enough to form the next provincial government, then we would make restoration of funding to post secondaries a priority," he said, explaining that the skills training, upgrading, community partnerships and opportunities for first-generation learners that are offered at rural community institutions like Portage make them vital to the economy and the fabric of the province. "The restoration of funding to Portage and Keyano, just makes sense."
Eggen hopes the region will use the upcoming by-election to send a message to the current government that changes need to happen.
"This is a great chance to have people in region to send a message to the UCP that what they have been doing, and how they have been doing it, is not helping. It's not helping regular families, and not helping people who want to go to school," he said.
When the province's 2021 budget was announced earlier in the year, NDP opposition highlighted the 5.4 per cent reduction to post-secondary funding. At that time, Notley said the total losses to the province's post-secondary institutions was about $700 million. The 2021 budget reduced the college's $25 million annual budget by almost a million dollars. It was the third consecutive funding reduction, combining for almost $3million in cuts over the last three years.
Working with government
At the college, Broadbent has consistently said the college staff, students and executive remain resilient. She says the relationship between the college and the current Advanced Education Minister's office is a good one where some new opportunities are currently in the works to strengthen community learning. She says there are plans for a return to some pre-trades training programming at the college along with continued community partnerships with industrial stakeholders. Emphasizing the college's non-partisan stance, Broadbent says the focus of post-secondary education in the region remains on student education no matter what the political climate.
Portage College officials have recently released their Strategy 2025 — a four-year plan that highlights the continuing efforts to empower learners and make a difference in their lives. Broadbent says the document, which outlines the vision of the college going forward, shows "what makes Portage College unique and important to Alberta." The new mandate has links to the region's history, Indigenous culture and a commitment to truth and reconcilliation.
The Strategy 2025 plan aligns with the Alberta Advanced Education's own Alberta 2030 plan.
Although it has to be called before February 22, Alberta's Premier has yet to select an actual date for the byelection to fill the MLA position in the Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche constituency that was vacated by Laila Goodridge in August. Goodridge left her provincial post suddenly to become the area's federal Member of Parliament.
A link to the college's Strategy 2025 is available in the digital version of this article at www.lakelandtoday.ca
