Brain drain having negative economic impact: NDP

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman on September 27, 2022.

Herald photo by ALEJANDRA PULIDO-GUZMAN NDP MLA for Lethbridge West Shannon Phillips along with NDP critic for Advanced Education David Eggen and VP External with ULSU Samantha Scott, speaks to the media about the importance of retaining young people in Alberta after completing their post-secondary studies Monday at the University of Lethbridge.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

NDP MLA for Lethbridge West, Shannon Phillips, and NDP critic for Advanced Education, David Eggen, spoke to media about the importance of supporting and retaining young people in Alberta on Monday.

Phillips and Eggen were joined by VP external for the University of Lethbridge Students’ Union and president of the Council of Alberta university students, Samantha Scott.

“We are here today at the University of Lethbridge with folks representing students, post-secondary groups and faculty to discuss the future,” said Phillips.

She said prior to speaking to media they had a round table discussion about the future of students’ education, job opportunities and the future of the province.

“It is exciting that the bright minds graduating from the University of Lethbridge and at the post-secondary schools across the province including Lethbridge College, will be building Alberta’s future,” said Phillips.

She said Alberta has always been a place that attracts young people to start their lives as we have world renowned schools, beautiful natural spaces to enjoy, vibrant cities and job opportunities.

“However, what we’ve seen over the last three years under the UCP government has been a disturbing trend.

“Young people are not coming here like they used to,” said Phillips.

She said they are seeking jobs that have grown past the priorities of the UCP government, and significant cuts to our post-secondaries has pushed the advanced education system further down in the rankings.

“We must attract young people to the province and provide opportunities for the ones here to stay, otherwise they will seek to advance their education elsewhere and along with them go their contributions to our economy,” said Phillips.

She said young people are the province’s future and present.

“A concept the UCP haven’t been able to grasp with their attacks on our healthcare system, threats against the mountains, parks, watersheds and policies that drive cost on insurance, taxes, school fees, tuition, (and) utilities up and up,” said Phillips.

She said it is no wonder young people don’t want to come to Alberta and stay, and it is also no wonder that many have left the province.

Phillips said earlier this year, the NDP caucus released a proposal about the future of post-secondary education where they looked at the possibilities of establishing a future leaders’ council, a group of multiple provincial government ministers, municipal leaders, young people, industry leaders, Indigenous partners, cultural leaders, faculty and more to focus on developing a comprehensive strategy to keep young Albertans in Alberta and for ways to attract future leaders from other parts of the country.

“Representatives for the faculty, staff and students have all come together to share their thoughts on how a group like the future leaders’ council could function, where their priorities would land, what innovative ideas we could adopt as a province to build a stronger post-secondary system,” said Eggen.

He said that to bring young people into the province will take a broad range of solutions spanning across different branches of government, industry services and communities.

“There is no doubt that post-secondary will play a critical role in keeping young people here in Alberta and attracting young people too, but the further that the UCP devastates our post-secondary schools with cuts at every single budget cycle, the harder it is for schools like the University of Lethbridge to recover,” said Eggen.

He said this drives up tuition prices and leads to staff and program cuts which drives down the quality of education.

“We need to provide the best opportunities for our young people and a monumental piece of that is to support our schools, our leader Rachel Notley has said this before and certainly it is true even more now, that our greatest resource as a province is its people, especially young people are the ones that will be designing the future of Alberta,” said Eggen.

Scott, representing the student’s union, said that when deciding to advance their education, young people are making a significant investment into Alberta by actively choosing to study in the province.

“Students are effectively committing to living and working in one place while they complete their degrees. It is essential that students have opportunities within Alberta if they’re going to make the decision to study, work and build their lives here,” said Scott.

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