Conservatives cut funding for educational research

Yesterday I received a message from Dr. Kathleen Flanagan, Coordinator of the Canadian Council on Learning Adult Learning Knowledge Centre, regarding the impending termination of the Centre's operations. An excerpt from that message:

I regret to inform you that the Adult Learning Knowledge Centre, an initiative of the Canadian Council on Learning, will terminate its operations on July 6, 2009. On April 6, the Canadian Council on Learning announced that, due to financial constraints, funding for its five knowledge centres will end on July 6. Full details of the announcement can be found at the following link.

During its four-year history, the Adult Learning Knowledge Centre, with the support of the Canadian Council on Learning and its fellow knowledge centres, has worked tirelessly to foster a dynamic, informed, and coordinated pan-Canadian culture of adult lifelong learning. With the help of stakeholders across Canada, AdLKC has helped to build a better understanding of the value of adult learning to our economic, social, and cultural well-being as individuals, communities, and as a nation.

Essentially, the mandate of the Canadian Council on Learning has been extended by a year with no further funding from the federal government. As a result, the CCL has cut its staff by 20% and eliminated a number of its programs. In July, funding will end for the CCL’s five knowledge centres. These are centres for research on Aboriginal Learning, Adult Learning, Early Childhood Learning, Health and Learning, and Work and Learning. Evidently, the federal government sees no interest in continuing to provide public funding for the research and knowledge exchange activities of these centres.

But, haven't we seen this before from the Harper Conservatives? Indeed.

Last year, the current federal government sealed the fate of the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation when it decided not to continue its funding. Early next year, the Foundation will cease to exist, along with its research arm which has produced research on the affordability and accessibility of post-secondary education in Canada as well as the effectiveness of student financial aid programs.

Since their initiation by the previous Liberal government in Ottawa, the Canadian Council on Learning and the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation have carried out important research activities concerning the state of the Canadian education system. In a short space of time, our current Conservative government will have successfully dismantled both organizations by snuffing out funding for their important work.

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