[ISL] "UPEI, Holland College should merge, NDP says"

[rfmcdonald]

This NDP proposal, as reported by the CBC News' Shane Ross, does not appeal to me. Universities and colleges are different kinds of institutions, after all, to say nothing of my loyalties to UPEI.

The NDP in P.E.I. has asked the province to examine the possibility of merging UPEI and Holland College into one one post-secondary institution.

"We are a small province of a population a little over 145,000 people, we cannot continue funding both institutions at the rate we are," said NDP Leader Mike Redmond in a written release Friday.

Because UPEI and Holland College are exempt from Freedom of Information Legislation, Redmond said, the public doesn't see where their tax dollars go. The institutions have been "political patronage dumping grounds" for decades, he said.

"It is unacceptable for both these institutions to continue to go hat-in-hand to government for more money every year, just as it is unethical that our provincial government uses post secondary institutions to hire friends and families of their respective political parties," he said.