Provincial Liberals expanding university courses

John Foran, New Brunswick's top cop, is doing what he can to make sure people on the Miramichi get taught a lesson.
But not the kind you might think.
Foran, MLA for Miramichi Centre, told me Saturday night expanding university programs on the river is definitely a priority of his government.
"Now, were not talking bricks and mortar here," Foran said.
What the government wants to do is expand the first-and second-year university courses from Mount Allison and St. Thomas Universities and the University of New Brunswick already being offered at our community college, he said.
That's good news for people on the river.
Right now, close to 140 students go to university there through this program full time. And without having to sink money into the new infrastructure our very own university would require, students can access the resources the three partner universities can offer from home. It's a win-win situation that just makes sense.
Foran first raised the issue of expanding the university education programs at the New Brunswick Liberal Party's last biannual convention.
"Our goal from day one was that kids from the Miramichi can get their first degree here," he said.
And it's been a longtime coming.
It's been more than 40 years since we lost St. Thomas University to Fredericton and we didn't even have so much as a trade school until Frank McKenna gave us NBCC Miramichi in the late 1980s.
Expanding university programs is definitely a step in the right direction for the government, a step that can only help our students and our local economy in the long run.
With more university courses here, more students can still live at home while getting an education, something that benefits them, their parents and their combined pocketbooks.
Not to mention the local economy. Every student who goes away to study is one less person buying gas, groceries or clothes here.
And after realizing they don't have to go away to further themselves, maybe more young people will decide to stay here on the river and raise families, contributing to and enriching our community instead of making tracks to the next city down the road.
Rupert Bernard, president of University Programs on the Miramichi Inc., said in a report his group has a plan they hope will let them make a full liberal arts degree, two years towards a business degree and one year towards a science degree available to prospective students.
That's great news.
At the beginning of his election campaign in August, Premier Shawn Graham promised $1.25 million per year for four years to expand university programs here.
That's 5 million bucks for those of you like me out there who can't count.
"I think with $5 million we can do a lot," Foran said.
Foran's government made the commitment to expand distance education programs in their Charter for Change election platform. Though the province's budget process is still in its early stages, with it's unveiling not likely until March at the earliest, he said he has no reason to doubt the education expansion will happen.
And who knows? Maybe someday we'll see a full-fledged University of Miramichi.
The forest industry, the industry that supported this region for generations, is now a shadow of its former self and a fleeting shadow at that. If this area is going to make it, if we as Miramichiers are going to make it, we've got to move forward. And we've got to start taking those first steps now.
Good for you, John, for helping us on our way.