Report may discourage students: Public Interest
By Lethbridge Herald on October 21, 2025.
Alexandra Noad
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Public Interest Alberta has raised concerns about the Mintz Report, which includes 11 recommendations to help improve post-secondary education within Alberta.
Last week, Bradley Lafortune, executive director for Public Interest Alberta, visited students and faculty of the University of Lethbridge as well as community members to have discussions about the future of post-secondary in Alberta.
This is his first stop and Lafortune says he chose Lethbridge due to being home to both the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge Polytechnic.
“We wanted to come to Lethbridge as our first stop because Lethbridge is such an important university and college town, to talk about the future of post-secondary education and what we see as the threat to the future of post-secondary education within the report that was commissioned by the UCP.”
The main concern from the report regards funding. Lafortune says while it is promising to see a funding model be recommended, he is also skeptical that the UCP will be provide adequate funding, especially after years of holds and cuts.
“We like the idea of a funding model, so PSI’s have predictability when going into planning long-term, but we’re very concerned about whether or not that funding is going to be adequate and up to now, it certainly has not been from this UCP government.”
Students and staff from post-secondary have also voiced their concerns to Public Interest Alberta about potential government overreach for recommendation 11, which suggests neutrality uniformly apply to all post-secondary schools.
If this recommendation is implemented, Lafortune is worried how it will impact research and student experiences.
“I’m really concerned about the impact on research…(and) the impact about the student experience and the ability for instructors and the ability for instructors, faculty and staff to engage with their students openly and honestly in a democratic way.”
The report also suggests lifting the two per cent cap on tuition for new students and Lafortune fears it will discourage students from attending school due to not being able to afford it.
“If we’re talking about lifting that cap of tuition and increasing the base rate of tuition more than two per-cent year over year for students that’s just not going to be manageable for a lot of students.”
In April, Lethbridge Polytechnic announced it was forced to terminate 53 permanent positions due to shortfalls in funding for the institution and Lafortune says he expects to see similar situations at more post-secondary institutions if funding isn’t addressed.
He adds Public interest Alberta is relieved to see the report didn’t recommend building new institutions and hopes the government will invest in existing institutions.
“What we want to see is the reinvestment within our existing post-secondary education system to ensure we can accommodate growth across the system.”
Lafortune believes the UCP should be listening to those with firsthand experience, not necessarily a “blue ribbon panel.”
“These folks are the experts on post-secondary, they know what they need as workers and students in order to have a healthy safe, democratic, flourishing, productive learning and teaching environment.”
18-17
Post secondary education is important and should be available to all, not just those who have access to funds. But I have issues with these institutions.
When I went to post secondary, counselors help me decide what education I would need to achieve my goals, whether there would be jobs available in that field once I completed my education, and which courses would be the best for me. That was decades ago!
Today, from what I now see, those institutions are now focused more on profits and not giving students the education they need to work in their chosen fields, and even putting them through 2 to 4 years of education, knowing they would never be able to find work in their field, because they will never meet the job requirements. I personally am aware of 2 people in this case who now struggle to pay off student loans, working low wage jobs not in the field they trained for.
I also see foreign investment, with strings attached in our post secondary institutions that either have their own professors/educators hired, or the focus of a particular subject slanted in these foreign government investments ideologies, and in some cases have led radical thoughts. Other foreign investments from another country which has of the worst human rights violations, has misinformation taught about their country to mislead the students into believing that they are a great, law abiding country with some of the best human rights . . . so in effect, these foreign entities through investments in our institutions, indoctrinate the young minds of Canada into their own ideologies. We have seen several called out in the past 5 years!
Our young adults should be prepared in post secondary school for their chosen careers, not indoctrinated into radical thoughts, or ideologies which have nothing to do with their careers.
Even our high schools are not preparing our young minds for careers or post secondary education.
I recently heard from a young high school student from Europe who is on a student exchange program who commented how the workload/classes in Lethbridge are only a part of the workload/classes they receive in Europe including learning foreigh languages. When I worked overseas and spoke with some of the young people, the education in high school there, was more involved than in Alberta, and it appeared to better prepare them.
We need to refocus . . . we need to better prepare our students for their lives/careers, not indoctrinate them.
Perhaps it is time to ‘shake up’ the post secondary institutions!