The Green Party of Nova Scotia rejects the government overreach and commodification of our universities which are proposed in Bill 12. This Trump-style attack on academic freedom is a material threat to Nova Scotia’s stature as a research leader as well as its local economies. 

Allowing the government to handpick half of a university’s board undermines the integrity and independence of universities and their leadership. As we’ve seen in the United States, intrusions of this sort are indicators of increasing authoritarian tendencies in government. The “market-driven” cuts will no doubt befall programs concerning equity-seeking groups, aligning with the recent US erasure of scholarship in those areas.

“Our universities have an important role in our economy, upgrading the skills of our labour force and providing a pivotal foundation for high-tech industry. However, universities should not be reduced to just job training centres. We should also support their roles as fertile ground for world-class research, academic excellence, and free thought. In a rapid-changing world, that legacy is more important now than ever,” says Green Party of Nova Scotia Leader Anthony Edmonds.

Universities are the hearts of many communities in Nova Scotia, and the economic well-being of these communities is tied to the fate of those schools. The path to solvency for these critical institutions is to restore the funding cut away by decades of neoliberal austerity, not to double down on that failed strategy.

The Green Party of Nova Scotia is a party of evidence-based policy, and we rely on the work of academics from a wide range of disciplines to inform our efforts to shape a better Nova Scotia. We’re in solidarity with the faculty and staff of our treasured learning institutions, and we urge the Minister responsible to reverse course on Bill 12.