Universities fear Alberta bill threatens academic freedom

A Canadian national organisation of post-secondary teachers is calling on Alberta to either change a proposed gatekeeping bill or scrap it altogether, reports The Canadian Press. The bill would give the province the right to veto federal agreements with provincial bodies, including post-secondary schools.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) says such political intervention threatens academic freedom given Premier Danielle Smith has said she wants to ensure funding aligns with provincial priorities. CAUT Executive Director David Robinson says research is best served when based on scientific merit rather than political ideology.

Smith believes the federal government intervenes in federal funding for post-secondary research, prioritising left-leaning projects. “The consistent message all of the premiers have is how frustrating it is that the federal government has a huge list of tasks that are in their area of jurisdiction, and yet they keep wanting to interfere with ours and tell us what to do and dictate to us what the programmes will be,” she said at an unrelated news conference on Thursday.
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