Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk denied Thursday that the
provincial government has endorsed changes that will strip colleges and
universities of money for teaching English as a second language.
Virk said in an interview that he and Jobs Minister Shirley Bond both
wanted post-secondary schools to continue delivering ESL training to
immigrants and domestic students, but that federal officials had other
ideas.
“Our preference would be to retain the current funding model,” Virk
said. “At no time have we endorsed a program that results in reduced
funding for some of these critical ESL programs.”
The ministry revealed this week that colleges and universities will
lose $17 million in federal funding that the schools use to deliver ESL
programs.
Virk said Citizenship and Immigration Canada has decided to award
contracts directly to non-profit and community groups as of April 1,
rather than funnel it through the provincial government to schools.
Citizenship and Immigration said the provincial government supports the
change, which brings B.C. in line with all other provinces except
Quebec.
“We’ve actually done it with the agreement of the provincial
government,” federal Immigration Minister Chris Alexander told CBC
Radio’s On The Island Thursday. “I’ve been working very closely with
Shirley Bond on this transition. She supports it. The premier supports
it. The government has endorsed it, and they''ve been working with us on
the transition.”
Virk said that’s simply not true. “I want to be clear that Minister
Bond’s and my preference is to maintain the current model,” he said.
“However, we are going to work with the federal government in the
transition to the new model as well.”
The federal government says no final decisions have been made on who
will get the new ESL contracts. But Virk said his ministry has learned
that none of the applications by post-secondary institutions were
successful.
His office told Camosun College that it will lose $2.5 million as a
result. The school’s faculty association said that could result in 10 to
15 teachers losing their jobs and 200 to 300 students losing services.
Virk has insisted that students will continue to receive ESL training, but he’s unsure where or how that will happen.
“We certainly would like the federal government to provide that
information to British Columbians as soon as possible,” he said.
NDP critic David Eby said the situation raises questions about
competency of Virk’s office. “This is just the latest symptom of people
not knowing what’s happening in this critical ministry,” he said.
“It’s a political problem, obviously, for the Liberals, but the real
problem is that B.C. students — especially new British Columbians who
are trying to get into the workforce — are going to be the victims of
this incompetence. And that’s the real tragedy of it.
“I’d love to know what the transition plan is and what the final
program would look like, but it seems like the minister of advanced
education himself doesn’t know, and if he doesn’t know, I don’t know who
would.”
lkines@timescolonist.com
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