Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. will be getting its own independent university, the Ontario government announced Thursday. Algoma University College—which was established in 1965 as an affiliated college of Laurentian University in Sudbury—will soon become simply Algoma University. Currently, the institution offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts and sciences issued by Laurentian University. Algoma University will be Canada’s newest public university since the University of Ontario Institute of Technology was established in 2003, and like the UOIT model, Algoma will offer a highly focused curriculum responsive to the needs of the regional economy and population.

David Oraziette, Liberal MPP for Sault Ste. Marie and a former member of Algoma’s board, made the announcement along with Chris Bentley, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, on Algoma’s campus. “This new university would mean a brighter future for Sault Ste. Marie,” Oraziette said. “More opportunity for our youth, greater economic growth, and a new vibrancy for our community.”

For his part, Premier Dalton McGuinty stated: “This is a historic day for the people of the Soo, for the north, and for post-secondary education in Ontario. Our government intends to introduce legislation that would not only create a new, independent Algoma University here in Sault Ste. Marie, but expand opportunity and choice for Northern families.”

The change will allow Algoma to issue its own degrees, further enhancing its ability to brand itself. It will also gain the autonomy to create its own programs. In recent years, Algoma University College has expanded its programs to include a post-graduate degree in computer science, which they offer off-site in Toronto.

“Algoma is delighted with this announcement today that supports our evolution into an independent university,” said Celia Ross, president of Algoma University College. “This is a strong endorsement of our ability to create unique programs that build leaders and capacity in Ontario. Many of our students are First Nations students, and they use the education earned here to transform their communities. We will be the university for students who want innovative, community-based programs in technology, science, business, and liberal arts.”

With a student body that has grown by 73 per cent since 1998, there is no shortage of applicants to fill the new university. With this announcement, Sault Ste. Marie will be a regional hub for higher education having both a full-fledged university and a college in the city.

“It is very exciting for all of us here,” said Jennifer Reid, an Algoma English graduate. “It will help us to feel a general sense of independence, students will know that the university has the ability to make decisions about is own future.” Reid believes that an independent Algoma will “give the university a greater sense of creditability.”

The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has an implementation team that will work with Algoma University College to draft the necessary legislation and produce a timeline for creating the independent university. Once this is complete, a date will be set for the official dropping of College from the Algoma University name.

Arthur H. Perlini, Algoma’s academic dean and library director, believes that “independent universities are afforded greater flexibility in academic programs and greater opportunities in respect to course and program offers.” He added that Algoma will face fewer challenges in regard to recruitment, especially among international students as the term “university college” could result in some ambiguity as to what Algoma does.

It is official, The Speculator reports, Sam Merulla is running for the NDP in Hamilton East – Stoney Creek.

Personally, I do not think he will win it. He is too polarizing and does not have much popularity outside of his homebase. It is too bad, I believe that Hamilton East needs strong representation and that the NDP was in the best position to offer that.

The other reason this bothers me is that if Merulla loses (as I expect he will), he will lose a lot of influence at City Hall. This will ultimately hurt my home neighborhood.

The part that bothers me the most, however, must be that I had to resign my membership in the Hamilton East – Stoney Creek NDP so I am unable to vote in the nomination contest.

Of course, Sam has matured a lot in the last year as a politician. Back in 2000 when he was first elected, many people (including myself) wrote him off at the start of the campaign. In September (voting was November 13th, I remember that ’cause I voted for myself on that day lol), Merulla spoke to the Hamilton East Kiwanis Boys’ and Girls’ Club Key Club and impressed most of us. It was at that point that I spoke (privately) in favour of him in the community. The point of that story, he may yet surprise me again and he may be able to capture enough votes in Ward 5 and on the western edges of Stoney Creek to carry the riding.

I am presently waiting at Union Station for the first train to Hamilton. I took the overnight Greyhound bus out of Ottawa, so I have been traveling for 12 hours now including all the waiting I did in Ottawa to board the bus.

The temperatures in Ottawa this week were crazy. It hit 33 on Friday. I did not get much sleep over the last few days and I am surprised how little I achieved on the bus ride back. Oh well, I will just have to make it up this week.

The Silhouette goes into production this week and should be out next week. I will have a few articles in it.

I will post a few pictures from Ottawa on this blog in the next couple of days as I get time.

Dreschel wrote last week in the Speculator that Sam Merulla is considering running for the provincial NDP in the riding of Hamilton East Stoney Creek, this despite a promise made less than a year ago not to.

Merulla made the promise when running for re-election as Ward 4 City Councillor. He was clear, he was not going to run for higher office if reelected by the people of Ward 4. I know that many people were concerned about voting for Merulla because they felt he was too focused on moving up and would not put the necessary time into the community.

Now, I have not been in Ward 4 today at a Horton’s so I have not had a chance to feel the pulse of the community on the issue, so this is my speculation based upon my knowledge of the East End as an East Ender. I think that there will be a great deal of resentment that Merulla will have to deal with if he runs for MPP. Merulla has been taking a lot of hits on his handling of the C.D.’s affair and many people in the area of C.D.’s are extremely unhappy with the City (and by extension Merulla) because the City allowed C.D.’s to operate without a license for three weeks during which time another shooting occurred in the area of C.D.’s. East Enders have no problem with ambition, if Merulla were honest about wanting to leave City Hall for Queen’s Park people would have still reelected him in Ward 4. It was not like there was a choice in the election.

In terms of the HESC race provincially, it is a riding that could be picked up by any party. I would say, however, that the NDP has the greatest chance of picking up the riding. I say this because they have a base of voters in the Hamilton East portion. This means that they can focus their energy on getting votes in other parts of the riding.

The interesting thing about the riding is that both portions are vastly different. Hamilton East has little to nothing in common with the Stoney Creek segment. The voters are completely different making it nearly impossible for the NDP to find a candidate that can appeal to the entire riding, without which the NDP cannot win.

Merulla is not that candidate, he is too polarizing and will be very unpopular in the Stoney Creek portion of the riding. Frankly, I think he be unpopular below King St east of the creek within Hamilton.

The other two leading candidates will both be seen as “union bosses” within the Stoney Creek portion and in parts of Hamilton. The reality is that the NDP cannot win the riding by running a labour leader.

Now, before someone says “Marston won and he was a Past President of the Hamilton and District Labour Council”, it is important to note that he was primarily seen as a school board trustee. He also enjoyed two key factors that helped him win: a vote out Martin movement and Tony Valeri’s land flipping scandal. (Clearly McMaster saw how successful Valeri was in real estate because they quickly hired him to be a “scholar-in-residence” at the DeGroote School of Business) These two reasons enabled Marston to win. He also benefited from widespread him recognition. The point is that Valeri’s attempts to smear him as a “union boss” failed because he was not one.

<<<DISCLOSURE: The first race that Marston won was the first one I lost. Marston and I ran against each other in 2000 for School Board Trustee. His character during the race was outstanding and I could not think of a better person to be running against. He was amazing and never attacked, he focused on the merits of his positions. I endorsed Marston by advising people vote for him when asked.>>>

The only candidate that the NDP has running for the nomination that could win the riding in my opinion is Todd White, the immediate Past President of the MacNDP, who is young, intelligent and able to connect with all areas of the riding.

The Hamilton Speculator reports that the Hamilton Tiger Cats have won their first game of the exhibition schedule against the Loseipeg Blue Bombers! This is great news since I was not sure what to tell my bookie in advance of the game. It will be great to watch the Cats win on June 14!

I posted back in the beginning of April about the Canadian Federation of Students sending a high priced lawyer after me for a post I did about a referendum at Concordia. In that post, I made clear to the CFS that all legal threats are to be put in writing and that I will inform my readership of those threats by publishing CFS threats in their entirety.

Turns out that no threats have been sent since. I good lesson for those of you out there that write about the CFS, get them to put legal threats in writing.

I am relieved that the CFS did not take me to court only because I rather not waste time in court and putting the money upfront for legal representation would have sucked as well.

In other news, I am working on the backend of my server to configure a posting system to enable me to create a photoblog that will show up on the main blog but also be a nice separate blog. I am planning to buy a good Canon DSLR at some point near the end of the summer and will definitely post pictures of my travels and such.

That is what I am calling yesterday. Rarely does the antics of politicians actually bother me. I usually find the childish behaviour mildly entertaining, but today they have really pissed me off. The B.S. in Parliament with the Shane Doan affair and the blocking of Facebook at Queen’s Park. Do politicians not have something better to do with their time? Before some party claims innocence today, remember that all four parties supported the Shane Doan hearings.

Did you politicians solve child poverty like you said you would before 2000? No! Have you solved homelessness? No! Do we still have infrastructure problems? Yes! Does this mean that you have time for these stupid decisions and debates? No!

Get back to work!

Also, I love how the parties are accusing each other of playing politics with the Shane Doan affair. Imagine that, politicians playing politics! What is next? Doctors practicing medicine?

BTW, in other news today (that you did not hear politicians in Ottawa talking about), StatsCan released numbers today on the income of Canadians. In the release today, StatsCan stated:

Statistics Canada’s low-income rate measures the percentage of families below the low income cut-off (LICO). The LICO is a statistical measure of the income thresholds below which Canadians likely devote a larger share of income than average to the necessities of food, shelter and clothing.

In 2005, an estimated 655,000 Canadian families were below the LICO after taxes, representing 7.4% of all families, a proportion unchanged from 2004. The families in low income faced an average gap of $7,900, which represents the amount of income they required to bring their income above the cut-off.

Nothing to see here folks, move along….. back to a two year old comment that may or may not have been said!

Mackay’s cartoons make me feel a little better.

(Also, I know that I could be covering better stories than this but the Facebook story is very interesting.)

I am working back to back shifts at my job right now.

I worked last night from 2:30pm – 11:30pm and today I will be working from 6:30am to 12:30pm or so. I just realized this means that I will get to watch Question Period! I am excited by this, proving that I am a geek. BTW, Aaron Wherry over at Maclean’s does a good round up of Q-Period each day, here is yesterday’s http://www.macleans.ca/homepage/features/article.jsp?content=20070430_172500_6996