The cost of tuition will be tied to the rate of inflation starting in the fall of 2007, according to Alberta’s advanced education minister. This is a long-awaited, but welcomed announcement.

However I do have one question regarding this announcement, which I have written to the minister about. In the article above, it states that the minister says this move could save the average university student $3800. Now, I’m in a post secondary institution, which means I know how to do some math. I do not see how he calculates a savings of $3800. My tuition is $4200 which is for a college, but I should still see around the same savings on this plan as a University student. The average cost of tuition at the University of Calgary is $5200. I would welcome a decrease of my tuition to around $400, and I’m sure a UofC student would love tuition at the rate of $1400. However I do not see how these savings can be achieved under this plan, and unless I’m missing something, I believe the minister is trying to deceive the educated. Tieing the cost of tuition to the rate of inflation will only make the increasements in the rate of tuition smaller, and tuition certainly doesn’t rise $3800 in one year. I should give the minister a chance to respond to my letter before I criticize him anymore.

Can anyone reading my blog help me find the mystery savings of $3800?

Edited To Add: Supposedly QR770 misreported. The $3800 is savings over a total of 4 years. Still a high estimate at $900/year. And still this plan is not enough to make tuition affordable, it is already unaffordable. This won’t make it easier for anyone. - http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=7992

Well I was out in Kensington today for about 2 hours. I was able to collect about 75 signatures (138 in total now) for this petition calling upon the Government of Canada to begin the withdrawal of Canadian Forces from the counter-insurgency mission in Southern Afghanistan. The petion being in paper and not online, of course.

I was surprised at the good response I got today. I’d say around 60-70 percent of people who actually listened or read to see what the petition was about, signed it. It’s definitely not what you hear the media reporting about public perception to the war. My goal is to get 500 signatures by the end of November (May even be able to get more if I find more time and people to help me out.) Next week I plan on taking some other young New Democrats with me, and maybe we can double/triple the amount of signatures.

If you haven’t signed the petition yet, I suggest you do online. This mission is completely unbalanced. For every $1 spent on aid/reconstruction, now the Conservative government is spending $9 on the military effort in Southern Afghanistan. Also there is no clear definition for the mission and no exit strategy. It’s time to start question this mission, and it’s not unpatriotic or against the troops to do so. It’s democracy.

I will be recording question period, if I can’t find any.  However it would be great if I could find some online specifically with the President of the Treasury Board (the loud guy… I don’t remember his name) and Jason Kenney. And actually some with David Emerson as well. I’m putting together a political music video to a song called “Angry People”, and I got a great idea in my head.

If you know where, add a comment to this thread. It will be greatly appreciated and I will add your name or alias to the credits.

I’m glad that the federal NDP site is now being updated on a daily basis with usually a few press releases a day. Today I read this one. It’s about the NDP’s ideas for the solar industry.

It got me thinking though. Why not put in a plan so that every new federal government building is equipped with solar panels? The plan could also be extended to allow a fund for renovations to government buildings to equip them with solar panels. This would save taxpayers a lot of money in energy costs in the long run. Also homeowners can sell excess energy from solar powers to the power company and pump it back into the grid, why not have the federal government do this as well?

This plan also has many other benefits, than just saving money. It would be a step towards helping us meet our Kyoto targets and if provinces take part in a plan like this, it would have a tremendous positive effect on green house gases! Also it would be a huge boost to the solar power industry, which theoretically would cause prices to go down for ordinary consumers who want to help out the environment while saving money on their energy bills each month.