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This comes after cuts in last fall’s inaugural UCP budget left the U of C facing a $32.9-million deficit. The university responded by eliminating 250 positions.

“We anticipate that given the magnitude of this cut, this could lead to more positions being lost at the University of Calgary,” McCauley said Friday.

“Student experience and impact are paramount at the University of Calgary. That experience and trying to maintain the quality of that experience will be used in determining areas in which we will have to make cuts.”

McCauley said it’s too early to determine how many jobs would be eliminated, or what areas of the university would be affected. He said he’ll be working with the U of C’s board of governors to evaluate the “extent” of the province’s funding cuts and table a balanced university budget.

The government plans to eliminate the equivalent of 1,436 public sector positions over the next year to save $610 million, according to the 2020 provincial budget. Around 400 of those job cuts are expected to come from post-secondary institutions across the province.

The U of C will use “all levers to grow our revenues through partnerships … to try to minimize the impact of these cuts on our students,” McCauley said.

The provincial government anticipates post-secondary tuition fees rising by 11 per cent in 2020, and continuing to grow by 4.7 per cent and 4.8 per cent in subsequent years, according to the budget.