FREDERICTON (CUP) — Nova Scotia’s new Minister of Labour and Advanced Education Kelly Regan says she’s getting right down to business on government campaign promises.
Regan, appointed to the position last month after the Nova Scotia Liberals won the provincial election, said post-secondary education (PSE) is a big driver in the province’s economy.
“When I look at advanced education, what I’m looking for is to provide strong, stable governance for this particular sector, which is a huge part of our Nova Scotia economy,” Regan said.
She said the government plans to incorporate universities and colleges in the province’s economic development through fostering research.
“If you just look at the research done on university campuses, you got a lot of small businesses here that may not have their own research shops,” she said. “So a lot of the research done in Nova Scotia is on university campuses. The relationship between the town and gown — it’s actually quite important to our Nova Scotia economy.”
One way the government will do this is by investing in 300 graduate level scholarships worth $3.7 million.
“A lot of scholarships flow through the professors and if they move to another province that research goes with them,” Regan said. “These will go to the student directly and that will allow us to hold on to our best and brightest. They’ll do their research here and then they’ll build their careers here.”
Regan said the other big campaign promise, eliminating interest on provincial student loans, is also in the works.
“We have the speech from the throne in a couple of weeks and without getting into detail, I would watch that speech from the throne,” she said.
“We were very specific about what we committed to in our election platform. We wanted to make sure we didn’t promise more than we could deliver. What you see in our platform, those are what we’re focusing on right now.”
The minister said her department is also in negotiations with the province’s universities for a new memorandum of understanding, where things such as funding and tuition will be discussed.
“When we go into our negotiations, we will also look at tuition policy review and negotiation of bilateral agreements with each institution,” Regan said.
In addition to meeting with the schools, she plans to meet with student representatives in the near future; students will continue to be involved in the department’s decision making such as through the government-student roundtable in the province. She will hold quarterly meetings with student representatives.
“I really think that it’s a partnership as we’re moving forward,” she said. “Students are a huge driver of the Nova Scotia economy.”
Though the former journalist was primarily involved with women’s issues and causes before her current post, she is familiar with post-secondary education issues. She previously served as the critic for her new department and has also has seen her three kids through PSE in recent years.
“I do get to hear the challenges of post-secondary education on a regular basis,” she said.
“It’s not easy being a student these days. When I went to school, back when dinosaurs walked the earth, it was $1000 tuition … It’s a different world out there. It’s not easy.”
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