CAUT will move to censure any Nova Scotia university attempting to trigger a new provincial law that removes their workers’ right to strike, undermines academic freedom, and imposes debilitating fines on unions or their representatives who don’t fall into line.

The shaky economy seems to have prompted Canada’s CEOs to pontificate on what steps should be — nay, must be — taken to solve our economic woes as a nation. Case in point: on March 30, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) released a paper titled “Career ready: Towards a national strategy for the mobilization of Canadian potential.”

Universities and colleges are coming under increased pressure to change the way they operate these days. And this would be a good thing, if it were in response to the intellectual, pedagogical and social concerns of those who truly understand and care about the integrity of higher education.

The administrations of Athabasca University and the University of Manitoba face possible censure by CAUT Council in November unless they agree to remedy violations of basic university governance principles and address concerns about academic freedom.

The 2015 federal budget tabled last month was another disappointment for Canada’s academic and research community. Many of the research funding announcements appear to be directed to politically-driven initiatives in targeted electoral areas, or for business-led collaborations.

David Schindler, one of Canada’s most influential environmental scientists and former Killam Memorial Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta, is CAUT’s 2015 Distinguished Academic.

The elimination of most post-secondary tuition caps in Nova Scotia is a move that could spell disaster for the wider university community, critics are warning.

CUPE Local 3912, representing almost 800 contract academic staff at Mount Saint Vincent University, Dalhousie University and Saint Mary’s University, and Calgary-based Mount Royal Faculty Association with a membership of 770 regular and contract academic staff, were approved for CAUT membership at the association’s recent Council meeting.

New Brunswick’s newly-elected Liberal government unveiled its first provincial budget in the legislature on March 31, where Finance Minister Roger Melanson said “difficult decisions” had to be made to keep the projected deficit to $476 million.

The Liberal government’s first budget as a majority is another dud for Ontario’s post-secondary institutions, say critics, with no new funding for the second year in a row. Finance Minister Charles Sousa tabled his budget on 23 April with a message all about creating more jobs and economic growth.