CAFA campaign opposes Bill 18 interference in research grants

On April 10, the Alberta government introduced Bill 18, the Provincial Priorities Act. Bill 18 makes all federal funding agreements subject to provincial approval, including Tri-Council grants (Alberta’s 1800 grants total about $500 million). The exact process by which provincial approval is obtained will be determined later, through regulation.

Bill 18 threatens the academic freedom of researchers by allowing provincial politicians to decide which grants will be accepted. Bill 18 is also likely to increase red tape, reduce grant funding, and make Alberta less able to attract and retain scholars.

On April 18, Premier Danielle Smith told CBC (at 11:00) that her goal was to ensure “all people from all political perspectives are able to engage in a robust debate and have a robust research agenda. … If we did truly have balance in universities, then we would see that we would have just as many conservative commentators as we do liberal commentators.”

There appears to be no factual basis for the allegation the Tri-Council grants are politicized. Subsequently, the Minister of Advanced Education Rajan Sawhney asserted Bill 18 was necessary so the province could know what funding was being received. This information is publicly available online.

In the absence of an elected Advocacy Lead, AUFA has been working with the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA) as well as the Canadian Association of University Teacher (CAUT) and its member associations to seek the removal of universities from the ambit of Bill 18.

CAFA Press Release (April 12)

CAUT Statement (April 17)

On May 13, representatives of Alberta faculty associations met with Minister Sawhney and requested the exemption of post-secondary institutions from the ambit of Bill 18. Engagement Co-Lead Shandip Saha represented AUFA at this meeting.

The Minister declined this request and suggested she was in favour of exempting Tri-Council funding from review through Ministerial exemption after Bill 18 has been passed. From a practical perspective, it is hard to fathom why post-secondaries would be included within the ambit of Bill 18 if the plan is to simply turn around and subsequently exclude the vast majority of federal funding.

Bill 18 makes the most sense when viewed through a political lens. The Premier is likely trying to maintain her political support within the UCP by both picking a fight with the federal government and micromanaging the research of “liberal” academics. She is also concentrating power: Bill 18 gives her another weapon to deploy against universities and individual academics in response, for example, to research critical of the UCP and its policies.

Subsequent to this meeting, CAFA has launched a campaign to pressure Minister Sawhney to exclude post-secondary institutions from Bill 18. Please review the campaign and participant in it.

Bob Barnetson

AUFA President

Shandip Saha

Engagement Co-lead