Hon. Paula Simons: Senator Cotter, my question is a simple one. As an Alberta senator newly alerted to this situation, what would Albertans need to do to be party to this initiative? Would there need to be a bill or a motion passed in the Alberta legislature or is the bill before us today one that could be amended?

Senator Simons: Believe me, I am very committed to trying to save Campus Saint-Jean, which I think is a tremendous asset to all of Western Canada and not just francophone Albertans but for all Albertans.

I just don’t know that I see it as the federal government’s role to tell the province how to fund the university when that is a provincial jurisdiction, while at the same time, the federal government capped its funding 20 years ago to a university that has expanded. I can’t help but think the simpler solution here is to get the federal government to fund the university appropriately as it did in the past.

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