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'IOM Mt‘MIIJLAN -— By George. Barry and John Cairns In a recent interview with
The Sun, Member of_' Parliament for Hills— ’ borough ; Tom McMillan, spoke out on the issues in, the upcoming Federal Election. He touched on subjects» of concern to students, to Prince Edward Islanders, and to Canadians: ‘ Q: The Maritime Provinces Higher Education recom- mended an 8.1% increase in university funding. ' What is your feeling about the financial situation for universities? Mr. McMillan: University funding is essentially a provincial matter, but I don't think you can separate the provinces , from the Federal Govern- ment in matters of education. In the short term , one of the problems about tuition increases is that uni- versities themselves are starved. There has been a general cut— back' in government
' support. I don't think we should return to the balmy sixties when money was actually lavished on universities, but that was one extreme. We're almost going to the opposite extreme now. If you have our inflation
difference .
tion fees .
themselVes .
employment?
rate of 9.8% and if a university like UPEI
1 gets an 8.1% funding increase, then there is a
' net loss in support for the universities. face of that loss, _‘ universities are having to seek ways to make up the
One of the
ways they are doing it,
I regret, is higher tui—
In the
I think that there must be more support for higher - _ - _ -
Our own students benefit From rubbing shoulders
with people from other lands, but when young. Canadians I‘ that they accept from the
levels of government, so ' ‘ - that less and less of the
financial burden is '
actually borne by students It becomes too difficult to convince people that education is worthwhile when they have to bear the cost themselves.
Mr. McMillan: My ex- perience is that young
‘ people don't particularly want programs tailor-made for themselves, the Opportunities for Youth
' kind of approach. I
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/ _ _ _ - ‘ I _ THE [in SUN, Thursday, February 7,-l980, page6
TOM MOMILLAN.
‘think-they see'thenas
stop gap and ad hoc. Young people are bene- fited more by the economy itself being strong and absorbing them naturally ‘
' into the labourforce.
are being locked out of some programs, then our balance is out of wack. ——-—-—-_ is even a danger that education both directly and indirectly from both
We have unemployment hovering about the 8% level. . It is the young people who are hurt most. The largest single group
of unemployed- in Canada is between the ages of 15
and 24. Given this problem,
I don't think the Opportun- ities for Youth approach is
v going to do more than hit
Q: Have you any ideas in mind to improve the student work situation, either for summer jobs or career
i
i
i i
the tip of the iceberg. The main thing, and it is
a longer term plan, is to get college is great.
the economy itself in a sound condition, by getting inflation under control, by getting the value of our dollar back in line, by finding a real industrial strategy, End by re- ' capturing government spending. This isn't
to say that we should do away entirely with band- aid approaches, but it is to- say that we should put our main stress _on creating jobs in the marketplace. ' That is the general solution, the long term one. The best chance young people have for permanent, well paying jobs the future rests with the economy ' itself being sound.
Q: Several programs have been proposed to make
UPEI more attractive, for:- example, the vet school and a near athletic centre. . .How do you feel about these? Mr. McMillan: You've touched on two of my babies. The second one, the athletic centre, relates to a cotmi- ttee on which I 'm serving. It is essentially aiming ‘ at an athletic complex that would be not just a miversity facility, but also for the wider community as well. This 'sort of thing is an exper-_ iment which has proved successful on a number of other campuses. It is es- pecially worthwhi.le in small university towns.
We have no facility in Charlottetown that can accommodate. a fair sized convention, and that is
a big deficien in economic tenms because conventions are big ,busMS. An athletic
centre for the benefit _of students and the population at large could serve as the ' basis for all kinds of things we're not now ' able to get into for lack of such a facility.
But the vet school is even more important. At the present there are only three veterinary colleges in Canada. The
‘ only English ~speaking one in all of eastern Canada, including Ontario, is in Guelph, and Guelph
has a quota of six students
Atlantic Region. . 'lhere that quota will be lowered. In an agri-
cultural area like ours, the need for veterinarians and for a veterinary
We're falling behind every year, probably by about. a hundred trained veterinarians relative to the real need, the need not only in pet hospitals, but also in ’
' government and in all / kinds of other areas of the eccmouy. '
As far as PEI is con- cerned, you may know that the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission recommended in 197-6 that there be a fourth veter- inary college for Canada and that it be in the Atlantic Region and in Charlottetofin . Axlt‘set/ out a number of criteria on which judgement location should made, the nearness toanimals, for instance, and nearness to existing ' research facilities. . A major component toffthe proposed college was to be amarine sciences division, aquaculture {
' and the whole field of T fish diseases. Well, P.E.I. was ideally located for such a facility.
They did lod< atfother locations. ' one that was found‘to be severely wanting. IronicallY' Nova Scotia's objection to the P.E.I. location was their very strong desire to have it linked With Nova ScotiaJSgricultural College, but the MPHEC put Tmro well down the- listvbehind places like Fredericto'l and Wolfville. So I'm a strep g believer
x in a fourth veterinary college, and particularly in having it in (Ilarlottetmm' attached to U.P.E.I. ' Q: Foreign students have