The Alberta government has made it clear that it does not want post-secondary institutions following the example set by UBC Okanagan’s student union, which recently banned a Conservative club from forming on campus before reversing the decision.
Alberta’s Ministry of Advanced Education established an expert panel to review post-secondary school funding and competitiveness.
While the panel’s report, due in late 2025, aims to make recommendations addressing the impacts of federal immigration policies, the cost of administrative and regulatory burdens on post-secondary institutions, and more, it does not include a pledge to look into student union reform.
The panel was announced in Dec. 2024.
In March 2025, the UBC Okanagan student union faced serious backlash for banning a Conservative club, despite a Liberal campus club operating freely for years. The student union justified banning the club by claiming that the Conservative party’s views would make black and LGBTQ students “feel unwelcome.” After public pushback, the union reversed its decision, deciding to ratify the club.
Alberta’s Minister of Advanced Education, Rajan Sawhney, told True North this is not the culture her ministry supports.
“We recognize that these actions represent an attack on freedom of speech and to fostering a healthy academic environment. We need to ensure that we have free speech on campus where people are allowed to explore their ideas and be able to debate them freely,” said Sawhney.
Alberta’s United Conservative Party required all 26 publicly funded post-secondary institutions to endorse the Chicago Principles in 2019, a set of guidelines on free expression and academic freedom. Starting last fall, institutions have been required to report their free-speech policies, cancelled events, and free-speech-related complaints to the provincial government.
While Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she hadn’t seen student unions as a problem, she told journalist Keean Bexte that she’d raise the concern with the advanced education minister.
The minister told True North that among the funding allocations, administrative and regulatory burdens, and overall competitiveness of Alberta’s post-secondary system, the panel may examine mandatory student union fees.
Following the controversy at UBC Okanagan, the Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad said this was a “result of out-of-control radical leftist activism in B.C.’s academia.”
“No woke, activist student council should be allowed to determine which political parties students can join or associate with,” said Rustad, urging that students be able to opt out of student union dues.
Sawhney said an increasing number of Albertans have raised concerns about diversity, equity, and inclusion policies prioritizing ideology over merit.
“That is why through the Mintz panel, we are taking action to ensure that post-secondary funding is being used in the most effective way to support student excellence, including an examination of funding that is used by post-secondary institutions towards DEI initiatives,” she told True North.