如果阿尔伯塔省议会通过联合保守党政府周二提出的一项新法案，大学将被强制要求保持中立并允许言论自由。
Universities will be compelled to stay neutral and allow freedom of expression if the Alberta Legislature passes a new bill introduced by the United Conservative government on Tuesday.
第38号法案《2026年高等教育法规修正法案》提议修改《高等教育法》。
Bill 38, the Advanced Education Statutes Amendment Act, 2026, proposes changes to the Post-secondary Learning Act.
阿尔伯塔省高等教育部长迈尔斯·麦克杜格尔表示，虽然机构必须保持中立，但同一要求不适用于机构内部的个人。
Myles McDougall, Alberta’s minister of advanced education, said while institutions have to remain neutral, the same requirement will not apply to individuals within the institution.
麦克杜格尔在阿尔伯塔省议会的新闻发布会上说：“事情发生的深层政治原因，以及关于谁对谁错的立场等，那不是机构该扮演的角色。”
“The underlying political reasons why things are happening and the position as to who's right or wrong, et cetera, that is not the role of the institution to take,” McDougall said during a news conference at the Alberta legislature.
“但高等教育体系内的人员——学生、教职员工和行政人员——当然可以自由表达他们的观点。”
“But certainly the people within the post-secondary system — students, faculty [and] administrators — are free to express their opinions.”
该法案的提出，此前曾发生一起备受关注的案件：莱斯布里奇大学于2023年取消了前皇家山大学教授弗朗西斯·威多森的校内讲座。
This bill follows a high-profile case where the University of Lethbridge cancelled an on-campus lecture by former Mount Royal University professor Frances Widdowson in 2023.
威多森因发表有争议的观点而知名。2020年，她曾因建议寄宿学校为原住民儿童提供了教育益处而登上头条。
Widdowson is known for expressing controversial views. In 2020, she made headlines for suggesting residential schools provided educational benefits to First Nations children.
去年9月，国王法庭一名法官裁定，该大学取消威多森讲座的做法是错误的。
In September, a Court of King’s Bench justice ruled that the university was wrong to cancel Widdowson’s lecture.
第38号法案还旨在将2027-28学年加拿大学生在阿尔伯塔省高等教育机构就读的学费涨幅上限设为2%。麦克杜格尔未说明后续年份将如何处理。
Bill 38 also aims to cap tuition fee increases at two per cent in 2027-28 for Canadian students attending post-secondary institutions in Alberta. McDougall would not say what will happen in subsequent years.
该法案还确立了学生行为准则的最低标准，具体细节将在未来的法规中规定。
The bill also establishes minimum standards for student codes of conduct, which will be specified in future regulations.
麦克杜格尔宣布，阿尔伯塔省在评估学生贷款资格时将不再计入父母收入。
McDougall announced that Alberta will no longer include parental income when assessing eligibility for student loans.
他说，这将在现有的学生贷款发放预算中腾出约1.18亿元的额外贷款额度。
He said this would free up about $118 million in additional loans within the existing student loan disbursement budget.
专家小组 2025年，由经济学家杰克·明茨（Jack Mintz）主持的一个专家小组，为该省的大学、学院和理工学院提出了11项建议。
Expert panel In 2025, an expert panel chaired by economist Jack Mintz, made 11 recommendations for the province’s universities, colleges and polytechnics.
该小组建议政府强制要求所有公立高等教育机构保持中立并维护言论自由。该小组还建议阿尔伯塔省更新其高等院校资助模式，将入学人数、绩效和基础资助纳入考量。
The panel recommended the government mandate all public post-secondary institutions to be neutral and maintain freedom of expression. The panel also recommended Alberta update its funding model for post-secondary schools that would take into account enrolment, performance and base funding.
新民主党高等教育评论员、省议员大卫·埃根（David Eggen）表示，麦克杜格尔似乎从明茨报告中挑选了几个方面，而未涉及资助问题。
MLA David Eggen, the NDP critic for advanced education, said that McDougall appears to have cherry-picked a couple of aspects of the Mintz report without dealing with funding.
埃根表示，许多学生难以负担学费和生活成本的上涨。他说，第38号法案对此无济于事。
Eggen said many students are having difficulty affording tuition and increases in the cost of living. He said Bill 38 doesn’t help them with that.
埃根说：“相反，它寻求的是围绕文化战争、学生行为准则和机构中立性的一些转移视线的做法——当我们的高等教育系统已经因该政府资助不足而承受严重压力时，这些事情毫无意义。”
“Instead, it's looking for some diversions around culture wars, around code of conduct for students and institutional neutrality — things that mean very little when our advanced education system is already under serious stress from a lack of funding from this government," said Eggen.
阿尔伯塔学生执行委员会（ASEC）对2027-28学年后学费将如何变化的不确定性表示担忧。
The uncertainty of what happens with tuition after the 2027-28 academic year is raising concerns for the Alberta Students' Executive Council (ASEC).
ASEC主席赖利·梅（Rylee Mae）是莱斯布里奇大学的学生，她表示，即使学费涨幅被设定上限，学费对学生而言仍可能难以负担。
ASEC chair Rylee Mae, a student at the University of Lethbridge, said even if tuition fee increases are capped, tuition can still remain unaffordable for students.
她说：“学费上限仍需有关学费能上涨多快的保障措施，以便学生能够规划完成学业的成本。”
"A tuition ceiling still needs safeguards on how quickly tuition can rise, so students need to be able to plan for the cost of completing their education," she said.