Election Eve

(Originally posted September 17, 2006)

While the last few years have left me feeling apolitical...

... I nevertheless must confess to having more than just a passing interest in politics. In fact, there was a day when I couldn't get enough, as revealed by my involvement in model parliaments in high school, and fiery debates with peers around the coffee table in university. So it is that I'm more than a bit curious about the outcome of tomorrow's provincial election here in New Brunswick.

According to the pundits, Bernard Lord of the Conservative Party (and incumbent Premier) is more or less in a dead heat with Shawn Graham of the Liberal Party. The New Democratic Party - for good or for ill - doesn't seem to appear on anyone's radar screen (and to my chagrin, I can't even at the moment recall the name of the party's new leader).

As an academic, one issue in which I'm particularly interested is the stance of each party on higher education. In this regard the Conservatives appear to essentially be staying the course and continuing to flog initiatives they previously introduced. The Liberals, interestingly enough, have unveiled a campaign plank called "High Hopes for Higher Education", which (among other things) calls for a $2,000 grant to be awarded to every first year student in the province. While at first blush this sounds exciting (especially if you're a first year student!), one particular concern of mine surrounds the Liberals' definition of what constitutes a university under this plan. Everything I've seen thus far in the press would seem to indicate this initiative is targeted to students attending public universities in New Brunswick.

Herein lies a dilemma. If the forgoing is indeed true, it would be difficult for an employee of ABU to vote for the Liberal agenda, given that the university is privately funded and receives no public operating support. A first year student, then, would find the ABU option to be at least $2,000 more expensive than, say, the UNB alternative - ergo, the economic implications to both student and university are abundantly clear.

I have over the course of the past week requested clarification on this issue from the Liberal Party (both locally and provincially) but as of yet have received no response (and at this point am not expecting one). The question, then, before ABU employees would appear to be whether or not to support a government that could - through its policies - have a significant, negative effect upon their employer.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day.