Every year, CICan consults members in order to participate actively in the consultations leading up to the federal budget, to ensure that colleges’ and institutes’ priorities are heard by the government. This year’s recommendations focused on innovation, as well as Indigenous education, apprenticeship completion rates and infrastructure. CEO Denise Amyot, along with NSCC President and CICan Board Member, Don Bureaux, presented these priorities to the Standing Committee on Finance in person during a consultation meeting in Halifax, October 17. This year, we also took the additional step of reviewing CICan’s advocacy cycle to be more aligned with the government’s own budget cycle.
These efforts clearly paid off, as Budget 2018 addressed several of our asks, including an additional investment of $140 million over five years for the critically important College and Community Innovation (CCI) Program.