Third of faculty at military colleges to be let go

Federal budget cuts targeting Canada’s military colleges will eliminate up to one-third of the jobs now held by professors, says their professional association.

Jean-marc Noel, a professor of physics and president of the Canadian Military Colleges Faculty Association, said Thursday he has been given a list of 68 faculty members that the department of National Defence is looking to get rid of to cut costs. That number represents more than a third of the approximately 185 faculty teaching at Canada’s three military colleges: Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., the Canadian Forces College in Toronto and the Royal Military College campus in Saint-jean, Quebec.

“It’s going to seriously negatively affect the institution,” he said. “My problem is if you’re cutting to the bone, which is what they’re doing now, they’re jeopardizing their own reputations.”

All the names on the list are tenured professors who are locked into long-term union contracts with the colleges, Noel said. The list includes 35 full professors, 25 associate professors, six assistant professors and two senior lecturers who do not hold doctorates.

Of the 68 names, Noel said, a majority teach at the Kingston campus, the largest of the three. Strict union work rules mean that professors will not take on extra teaching burdens on any sustained basis, Noel said, so fewer profs means fewer classes.

“They’re saying we’re going to have to do more with less,” he said. “I hope they realize we’ll be doing less with less because the work has not disappeared.”

Military historian and former RMC board member Jack Granatstein said the effect of these cuts will be significant.

“The impact would be pretty large because the faculty between RMC and CFC is not exactly huge,” he said.

But on the bright side, Granatstein said, the cuts could restore some dynamism to the colleges.

“If they’re using these cuts as a way to encourage people to take early retirement, it probably in many cases will rejuvenate the faculty,” he said. “You get rid of people who may be tired and bring in some fresh blood, and that can be helpful.”

Neither the RMC, the Department of National Defence nor Defence Minister Peter Mackay’s office would confirm the plan to cut faculty.