CALGARY— The University of Calgary is eliminating 250 positions, including 150 workers, as a result of cuts in the United Conservative government’s most recent budget.

University officials made the announcement at a town hall meeting on Monday about the impact of a 5 per cent cut to operational spending for advanced education in October’s provincial budget.

In an emailed statement, University of Calgary president and vice-chancellor Ed McCauley said the cuts to post-secondary institutions mean the school is facing “significant budgetary challenges.”

McCauley said a total of 250 positions will be impacted, but 100 of them will be due to retirements, resignations, and job vacancies left unfilled. The other 150 will be eliminated in two phases: the first later in Nov., and the second in mid-January.

“UCalgary remains fully committed to providing a rich teaching, learning and research environment and in ensuring our students have a rewarding student experience,” said McCauley.

Justin Huseby, chair of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees’ Local 52 — which represents University of Calgary workers — was at the town hall.

While the union isn’t sure exactly who will lose their jobs, Huseby said the cuts will impact both managers and front-line workers.

“When we talk about front-line staff, that could be anybody from advisers to caretaking to tradespeople to library support,” he said.

The provincial budget predicted around 300 full-time equivalent jobs would be lost at Alberta’s post-secondary institutions within the next year as a result of a cut to the Campus Alberta grant. A total of 824 positions across the entire public sector will be gone by the end of the 2019-2020 fiscal year, although government officials have said most of these will come from eliminating vacant positions rather than cutting workers.

Huseby was grateful to the university for its frankness about the impending job losses, but said he was frustrated with the provincial government. He predicted hundreds of other jobs would be lost at major Alberta post-secondary institutions.

“The government was saying public-sector job losses would be through attrition, but today was confirmation that the only way that’s going to be achieved for this fiscal year is 150 positions have to be axed – and that’s in addition to the 100 lost through attrition,” he said. “It’s a broken promise from the government.”

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