The Yukon needs a university, say the Liberals.
“Yukon College has grown to offer many programs over the years,” Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell told the legislature on Tuesday. “Establishing a comprehensive university in Yukon is the next step.”
Canadians have talked aloud about building a university of the North for more than 50 years. Most recently, this dream has been rekindled by the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, which is launching another push to make this a government priority.
This leads Mitchell to say that “a comprehensive university in Yukon is not unrealistic.
“It would require help to do this, but the help is there if we seek it. The government could ask our senator and his federal colleagues for help on this. The government could invite the Governor General to Yukon to give him the message that an Arctic university in northern Canada should be located right here in Yukon.”
Education Minister Patrick Rouble responded by noting that Yukon College currently partners with southern universities to offer a number of degree programs.
And, Rouble said, he’s talked with territorial education ministers about the possibility of one day creating a northern university.
But that’s not good enough, said Mitchell. “The minister touts the glories of alliances with southern universities while Yukoners say goodbye to their children as they go elsewhere to get a university education.” (John Thompson)