Issue 19, Vol 144, The Brunswickan

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arts | another stoopid music festival news | fair trade free love

opinion| dealing with the ex

sports| a superbowl experience

Volume 144 · Issue 19 • February 9, 2011

www.thebruns.ca

brunswickan canada’s oldest official student publication.

STUDENTS SPEAK OUT ON PSE

Provincial finance minister, Blaine Higgs, addresses the crowd at an open pre-budget consultation held last Thursday. Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

New Brunswick students flood in to a provincial budget consultation meeting on Thursday to have their post-secondary education recommendations heard. Alex Kress News Reporter New Brunswickers spilled their suggestions for the province’s next budget into a microphone at the Hugh John Flemming Forestry Centre last Thursday, and Finance Minister Blaine Higgs took notes. Whether or not any of the suggestions were considered will be revealed on Mar. 22 with the announcement of the new budget. Common suggestions included reintroducing toll booths at all entrances

to New Brunswick, allocating more government funding for cancer patients in need of catastrophic drugs, and funding universities to decrease tuition. Craig Mazerolle, VP Education for the STUSU, hammered Higgs about the issues students are facing. He drove at the heart of it by highlighting the much talked-about “fear of losing New Brunswickers, and Maritimers in general out west.” Many of his friends from high school left to work on the oil rigs in Alberta and seek employment in larger centres. Mazerolle said one of the major reasons so many young

people leave the region is because of high student debt. He said the average student in the Maritimes will graduate with about $37,000 in debt. This includes student loans, credit cards and loans from parents. He was trying to relay the message that those educated in Atlantic provinces are very likely to take their skills elsewhere. “When you get out into the job market and you don’t see anything that can pay

SEE BUDGET PAGE 4

PSE minister holds stakeholders meeting: UNBSU president says no commitments are being made Colin McPhail Editor-in-Chief As the provincial government prepares to announce the 2011-12 provincial budget, New Brunswick universities are bracing themselves for cuts in the post-secondary education sector. Martine Coulombe, minister of post-secondary education, training and labour, held a stakeholders meeting last Friday. The purpose of the consultation was to hear the suggestions and concerns over the upcoming budget from the various parties involved with PSE.

“I think it was a very, very positive meeting,” said Minister Coulombe as she emerged from the meeting. “We shared together all our successes, all our concerns and we will work together to get good solutions.” Even though no final decisions have been made, the minister’s optimism was not shared with the heads of the universities and student unions. UNB president Dr. Eddy Campbell is preparing for a grim announcement

SEE PSE PAGE 4


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