Apr 1 2002 News Over The Edge Page 3 B.C. Scraps Distance By Kevin Groves VICTORIA (CUP) — The B.C. Liberals have slashed a pro- gram that offers post-sec- ondary education off campus. Over the next two years, all programs provided by the Open Learning Agency (OLA) will be discontinued or trans- ferred to post-secondary insti- tutions across the province. “These programs are pri- marily for students who might not meet the requirements for [university] admission or can’t take the time to go through the admission process of a univer- sity because they’re working,” said Cindy Underhill, a spokeswoman for the University of British Columbia’s distance education department. Before the changes, the OLA ran a separate college and university as well as the Knowledge Network, an edu- cational television station. The agency serves’ between 15,000 and 22,000 students each year, which amounts to about 2,600 full-time students throughout B.C. The OLA kindergarten to Grade 12 courses, career and college preparation, as well as UNBC Career Day - March 20th. Students in Learning university courses will be incorporated into correspon- dence programs offered at the University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University, UBC and other post-secondary institu- tions in the province. It is still unclear how the programs will be integrated. “As of yet we haven't received any new information” said Don Black, a spokesper- son for the OLA. Black said the government wants to adopt a distance education approach where member uni- versities work closer. together. “| would imagine this is to ensure that work in online learning is coordinated, rather than duplicated,” he said. Privatization could be one of the routes the government may take to administer B.C’s distance education programs in the future, said Black. Joan Collinge, a spokes- woman for Simon Fraser's dis- tance education department said privatization could work if administered properly. “The effect on students would depend on the extent to which the new _= service provider would be willing to work with the institutions,” she said. Photo: Kristen Wilgenhof iteract with potential employers. Look, Stealthy spies! President's Budget Report By Kristen Wilgenhof and Stephanie Wilson On Tuesday, March 19, UNBC President Charles Jago held a town hall meeting on the proposed budget. In late March, the B.C. gov- ernment gave universities and colleges the right to set their own tuition rates when they lift- ed the tuition freeze. As a result, UNBC students may see their tuition go up 20-35% as of May 1. Tuition is expect- ed to increase every year for the next three years. Government funding to post-secondary institutions will be uncertain at best. Therefore, the university will have to reduce its expendi- tures. So far, a budget reduc- tion of $2 million is planned. Half of that will be taken up by the institution by cutting bud- gets and reducing staff, while the other half will be taken up by the students. UNBC has committed itself to keeping tuition affordable for all students and staying com- petitive. In order to keep tuition fees lower, there will be no new scholarships and bur- saries available. Faculty positions will be cut. For example, one faculty posi- tion in the International Studies department will not be renewed next year. However, President Jago refused to elaborate on the effects of the cuts on the institution. The final budget is expected to be released in early April. How Free is Your Vote? By Stephanie Wilson The B.C. Green Party, under the leadership of Adrianne Carr, has spear- headed the ‘Free Your Vote’ campaign to bring electoral reform to B.C. The campaign was brought to the forefront when the B.C. Liberals won 77 of 79 seats in the Legislature during the last provincial elec- tion, despite receiving only 58% of the popular vote. The ‘Free Your Vote’ initiative hopes to bring an electoral system similar to that of New Zealand, which adopted a new system in 1993. What does this mean for you? It means that your vote will carry more weight, but there are concerns that the proposed system will lead to further divisions within the Legislature. . Proportional representation (PR) is an electoral system in which the seats in the Legislature are divided among the parties based on the per- centage of the popular vote that a party receives. Pretend there was a provin- cial election yesterday. You would have voted for a party, not a candidate. In a pure PR system, there are no candi- dates, no ridings, and no MLA’s. After the votes were count- ed, the Liberals won 30% of the votes, the Green Party won 26%, the NDP won 24%, and B.C. Unity won 20%. If there were 50 seats in the Legislature, the Liberals would receive 15 seats (30% of 50), the Green Party would receive 13, the NDP would receive 12 seats, and B.C. Unity would receive 10 seats. Each party would have sub- mitted a list with 50 members (one for each seat in the Legislature), which would list the people the party would like to represent them in the Legislature, starting with the person they want most. The Liberals won 15 seats, so they would send the first 15 people on their party list to the Legislature, the Green Party would send the first 13 people on their party list to the Legislature, and on. New Zealand uses an elec- toral system that combines proportional representation and first-past-the-post. (First- past-the-post is the electoral system we current’ use. Basically, the candidate with the most votes, wins.) This mixed system is called mixed- member-proportional (MMP). MMP operates on a double ballot. When you vote, you would first vote for a candi- date, then vote for a party. The party you vote for does not have to be of the same party that your candidate repre- sents. Directly-elected MLA's are sent straight to the Legislature, and the party list is used to send proportional representation-elected mem- bers. Adrianne Carr has _ pro- posed a system of MMP for B.C. that would cut the number of seats in the Legislature to 68. Provincial riding bound- aries would be done away with, and we would adopt the federal riding boundaries. This would leave B.C. with 34 rid- ings. 34 seats in the Legislature would be filled by a representative for each riding (an MLA), and the other 34 seats would be filled by pro- portional representation-elect- ed party list members. Parties would have to receive at least 5% of the popular vote to gain recognition in the Legislature. There are many arguments in support of MMP. In an MMP electoral regime, each vote ~ counts and there are no wast- ed votes. It allows minority groups and so-called ‘fringe parties’ to gain more represen- tation, and it provides greater freedom of choice for the vot- ers. Studies have shown that voter turnout in MMP countries is 10-15% higher than coun- tries that use a first-past-the- post system. Some argue, however, that MMP creates divisions in the Legislature, encourages bloc voting, leads to an increase of minority governments, and encourages extremism. It has also been argued that MMP is mathematically confusing to the voter. On April 3, a speaker from New Zealand will be at UNBC to discuss MMP and what it was like to adopt a new elec- toral system. For more infor- mation on this speaker, con- tact the Political Science department. For more information on the ‘Free Your Vote’ campaign, you can call 1-866-776-7379.