Provincial government officials met in Saskatoon recently to hammer out a new funding agreement for the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, but a new deal isn’t expected before next April.
Deputy ministers of post secondary education from the four western provinces toured the 35-year-old college and conducted funding negotiations.
According to veterinary registrars and associations in Western Canada, there is a critical shortage of large animal practitioners in rural areas and the college is nearly the only source for new professionals to fill the void.
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Earlier this summer, the college was warned by its international accrediting agency that its ability to license students was in jeopardy.
Buildings are in need of repair, lab and other equipment is outdated, courses are in need of modernization, and staff is underpaid and over worked with little time, energy or money to perform research.
Professors are becoming harder to attract and retaining staff has become an issue of serious concern to the administration.
All of these problems are tied to the poor and expired funding arrangement that provides the college’s operating budget.
“We’ve had problems at the college build up over time,” said Neil Yates, Saskatchewan’s deputy minister for post secondary education.
“It is a high tech area and things have changed since 1994. We revisit this budget every five years and I think the sticker shock of the increase needed for funding (in 1999) was pretty high. That didn’t help get the ball rolling to renew the agreement.”
Added Manitoba deputy minister of post secondary education Ben Levin: “In government these days sometimes things have to build up to a point that it is an emergency for anything to get done. Saskatchewan has been really good and patient about this and it has been too long coming.”
The four western provinces each provide funding for a limited number of seats at the school and jointly operate the program. Funding is based on the number of graduates each province derives from the program over the long-term.
Manitoba pays for 12 spaces, Saskatchewan 20, Alberta 20 and British Columbia 15. Three are designated as aboriginal and one is earmarked for northern Canada.
That balance has fallen apart over the years, with the lion’s share of students moving immediately to Alberta and British Columbia after graduation. The proposed new agreement, yet to be approved by the individual provinces, adjusts the funding formula to better reflect those who benefit from the program.
Provinces have also disagreed over how costs have been accounted for at the college, which is part of the University of Saskatchewan.
“We have heard the comment (from other provinces) that ‘I don’t want to pay for the (U of S) president’s office’ … and we have worked it out so the costs of operating the school are more easily determined,” Yates said.
Levin said provincial governments have all faced tight budgets and the college’s funding has not been given the priority it should have had in the past few years.
“Manitoba needs more vets,” Levin said. “We heard from Alberta that they were doing fine with what they had, but I know Saskatchewan is reaching a critical shortage as well. We need a good school and it is going to cost money and we’ll all have to pay more.”
British Columbia said premier Gordon Campbell is making the college’s funding a priority, but the issue will have to be evaluated by cabinet and the provincial treasury before funding is approved.
A spokesperson for the B.C. deputy minister said the province is committed to increasing funding for the school.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba officials said a new agreement is not expected before April 2002.
Governments will respond to some of the outstanding issues in the next two months and will consider how to avoid future funding shortfalls.
“We will need to shorten the period between negotiations,” Levin said.
Yates said the provinces also need to consider the federal government’s role in educating veterinarians.
Levin said the federal government depends on the college to provide federal veterinarians and animal scientists for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Added Yates: “We need an adequate supply of vets. Everyone can agree on that. Now we have to make sure that those that benefit from the college are paying their portion of the bill to operate it.”
