Layoffs Looming at CNC
CNC Faculty Associaton President David Rourke – photo 250News
Prince George, B.C. – Job losses are looming at the College of New Caledonia.
Faculty Association president David Rourke was informed of the coming changes this week.
“The administration told us on Thursday and then we met with them on Friday to look at a preliminary list of our members that will be affected and we’ll continue to meet with them the next couple of weeks to finalize that list before announcements are made and layoff notices are given.”
He estimates the losses will be in the double digits.
“We estimate at this point it’s definitely double digits and I’m not sure if it’s more than 20 or less than 20 but somewhere in that range. It’s the minimum we think at this point.”
Rourke says the cuts are the result of a $2.8 million budget deficit this year which he blames the provincial government for.
“Government’s to blame. They are sitting on huge surpluses that these institutions like CNC have been generating and the institutions are starving and they’re cutting themselves to the bone just to meet these deficits. So it’s government and it’s fiscal policy and it’s dangerous to our public institutions,” he says. “Since 2008 the government has cut the college’s base funding budget by $12 million, so it’s continual cuts, there’s no new growth at the college other than some courses in continuing education or in the international student market.”
He says several programs are on the chopping block including the dental hygiene program, the dental assistant program, the aboriginal early education program and a program called Focus in Burns Lake.
Rourke says the college will also be discontinuing all clinical counselling services that it would normally provide to all its students.
He says under the union’s collective agreement all members must be notified of coming layoffs by the end of this month.
Comments
BC post secondary in PG deserves Failing Marks! Terrible news for current and next generation Grads!
Seeing our kids leaving the province seeking better and lower cost education is so sad!
Time to go on strike! oops… carry on
Why is leaving the Province to seek better education or jobs sad, however when people come to the Province seeking a better education or job, it is a good thing???
I’m thinking there is another side to this story!
Probably right, Cougs, so what do you think it is?
Too bad we don’t have the HST to pay for this kind of stuff.
Interceptor. The HST was designed to pay the taxes for business and corporations, especially corporations that exported their product.
Have you forgotten (or perhaps you never knew) that the GST was originally brought in to replace the 13% manufacturing tax paid by Canadian business, which supposedly would make them more competitive on the world stage.
So there you have it, GST or HST all introduced for the betterment of business/corporations, and paid for by the average citizens.
At least with the PST some business’s continue to pay some of the taxes in this Province, which is as it should be.
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