The Honourable
Demetrios Nicolaides
ECA MLA
Δημήτριος Νικολαΐδης
Minister of Education
Assumed office
June 9, 2023
PremierDanielle Smith
Preceded byAdriana LaGrange
Alberta Minister of Advanced Education
In office
April 30, 2019 – June 9, 2023
PremierJason Kenney, Danielle Smith
Preceded byMarlin Schmidt
Succeeded byRajan Sawhney
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Bow
Assumed office
April 16, 2019
Preceded byDeborah Drever
Personal details
Born (1982-08-31) August 31, 1982
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Political partyUnited Conservative Party
Residence(s)Calgary, Alberta
Alma materUniversity of Cyprus
OccupationConsultant

Demetrios Nicolaides ECA MLA (Greek: Δημήτριος Νικολαΐδης) is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Bow in the 30th Alberta Legislature. He is a member of the United Conservative Party.[1] On April 30, 2019, he was appointed to be the Minister of Advanced Education in the Executive Council of Alberta.

He was re-elected in the 2023 Alberta general election.[2]

Early life and career

Nicolaides was born in Calgary. He was elected VP Academic of the University of Calgary's Students’ Union in their 2003 General Election.[3] Nicolaides convocated from the University of Calgary in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and International Relations.[4] He completed his Master in Peace and Conflict Studies from the European University Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and his PhD in political science from the University of Cyprus. His PhD focused on the effectiveness of approaches to peace education in protracted ethno-nationalist based conflicts.[5] Other research work includes the Cyprus conflict, Cypriot foreign and defence policy and EU integration politics.[6][7][8][9]

Nicolaides was elected as vice-president communications for PC Alberta at the party's 2016 AGM in Red Deer and served until the successful merger of the party with the Wildrose to form the new United Conservative Party of Alberta. Demetrios squashed attempts to disqualify Jason Kenney's candidacy for leader of the party.[10] Nicolaides volunteer extensively on Jason Kenney's PC leadership campaign, the merger of the Wildrose and PC Alberta, and Jason Kenney's UCP leadership campaign. In 2018, Demetrios sought the UCP nomination in Calgary-Bow and faced off against many challengers including Lisa Davis, who retained Nicolaides as her campaign manager during her 2017 election as a school trustee to the Calgary Board of Education in 2017. Nicolaides successfully secured the nomination against Lisa Davis, Cheryl Durkee, and 2015 PC Alberta candidate Calgary-Bow and 2016 PC Alberta leadership candidate Byron Nelson on October 23, 2018.[11]

Post-secondary funding and reform

In January 2020, Nicolaides announced that funding for post-secondary institutions would be based on performance against key metrics. Three-year Investment Management Agreements would be signed with individual institutions and each would see 15% of funding at risk in year one, 30% in year two and 40% in year three.[12] The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the government to delay implementation of the new model.[13] Nicolaides moved forward with a new implantation timeline that would see post-secondary institutions sign a one-year Investment Management Agreement, with 5% of funding at risk against a single metric on work-integrated learning.[14] His office accredited the first for-profit post-secondary institution in Alberta in MaKami College.[15]

Supporting the trades

As Minister of Advanced Education, Nicolaides prioritized additional support for trades and apprenticeship education. This included establishing a new scholarship for high school students who show promise in the trades. The $1.5 million High School Apprenticeship Scholarship, will help more students access post-secondary educational opportunities in the trades.[16] $10 million in new funding was also provided to Women Building Futures,[17] $6 million per year to CAREERS: The Next Generation and $2 million annually to Skills Canada Alberta.[18] In addition, a taskforce of experts in the trades and apprenticeship education was convened to provide the government with additional recommendations to elevate the trades and promote apprenticeship education pathways.[19] Nicolaides also established the Trades Hall of Fame[20] and introduced Bill 67, the Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Education Act that overhauled Alberta's trades and apprenticeship legislative and regulatory framework.[21]

COVID-19

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused many of Alberta's post-secondary institutions to move to on-learning which continued throughout the majority of the 2020/21 academic year.[22] Nicolaides provided support to Alberta's five First Nations colleges who each received an additional $100,000 in one-time funding for COVID-19 supports. The grant was used to address technology and WiFi access, support online programming development and delivery ad assists with improve cleaning protocols.[23] Additional supports were also provided to unemployed apprentices as eligible apprentices would now receive $500 more during their classroom instruction period to assist apprentices who are unemployed continue their apprenticeship program.[24] In March 2021, citing increasing vaccination rates, Nicolaides issued a statement to post-secondary institutions to prepare to return to in-person learning for the upcoming 2021/22 Fall academic semester.[25] While many institutions indeed returned to in-person learning, the rise of the more infectious Omicron variant prompted many of Alberta's post-secondary institutions to return to on-line learning in October and December.[26] By the spring of 2022, the Omicron variant had abated and the Government of Alberta moved forward with a plan to remove COVID-19 measures. On February 8, 2022, Premier Jason Kenney announced that the proof-of-vaccination program would end at midnight and other COVID-19 measures would be removed by March 1, 2022.[27] Following this announcement Nicolaides directed post-secondary institutions to remove their vaccine and mask requirements by March 1, 2022.[28]

Establishing Red Deer Polytechnic and Northwestern Polytechnic

In February 2018, Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt announced that Grande Prairie Regional College would transition to a university in order to offer degrees in the local community.[29] In 2019, it was further announced that Red Deer College would also transition to a university.[30] However, in 2021, Nicolaides noted that the two institutions may not transitions to universities as planned as a larger review of Alberta's post-secondary system was underway.[31] In the end, both institutions transitioned to Polytechnics.[32][33]

Targeted enrolment expansion

Budget 2022 committed $600 million over three years to address labour shortages through the Alberta at Work initiative. This included $171 million, over three years, to create 10,000 new post-secondary spaces in high-demand programs.[34] Approximately $4 million was provided to Lakeland College, Keyano College and Portage College to create 400 new spaces,[35] $850,000 was provided to Northern Lakes College and Northwestern Polytechnic to create 340 new spaces primarily in health care related programming,[36] $5.3 million was provided to the University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge College and Medicine Hat College to create 184 new spaces,[37] $5.5 million was provided to Red Deer Polytechnic, Burman University and Olds College to create 900 new post-secondary spaces,[38] Edmonton-area post- secondary institutions including the University of Alberta, Concordia University, MacEwan university, NAIT and Norquest collectively received a total of $70 million to create 4,900 new post-secondary spaces in business, engineering, health, IT and early childhood learning[39] and Calgary-area post- secondary institutions received $84.6 million to create 3,000 new spaces in aviation, quantum computing, and healthcare at Ambrose University, Bow Valley College, Mount Royal University, SAIT, St. Mary's University and the University of Calgary. Nicolaides has claimed that the 10,000 new spaces created through targeted enrolment expansion initiative represent the largest targeted seat increase in Alberta history.[40] In addition, Budget 2022 included a $59 million capital investment to the University Of Calgary Faculty Of Veterinary Medicine to double the number of vet grads[41] and $41 million to continue redevelopment of SAIT's John Ware building, home of its award-winning culinary program.[42]

Electoral history

2023 Alberta general election: Calgary-Bow
Party Candidate Votes%±%
United ConservativeDemetrios Nicolaides13,17549.74-6.15
New DemocraticDruh Farrell12,55247.39+13.23
Alberta PartyPaul Godard6702.53-4.56
Solidarity MovementManuel Santos890.34–
Total 26,48699.29–
Rejected and declined 1900.71
Turnout 26,67666.43
Eligible voters 40,159
United Conservative hold Swing -9.69
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[43]
2019 Alberta general election: Calgary-Bow
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
United ConservativeDemetrios Nicolaides13,98755.90+1.89$75,865
New DemocraticDeborah Drever8,54834.16-1.94$48,057
Alberta PartyPaul Godard1,7747.09+4.52$6,206
LiberalDaniel Ejumabone3201.28-3.45$500
GreenMarion Westoll2330.93-1.66$950
Freedom ConservativeRegina Shakirova1610.64–$500
Total 25,02399.41–
Rejected, spoiled and declined 1490.59–
Turnout 25,17268.05
Eligible voters 36,993
United Conservative notional hold Swing +1.92
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[44][45][46]
Note: Expenses is the sum of "Election Expenses", "Other Expenses" and "Transfers Issued". The Elections Act limits "Election Expenses" to $50,000.

References

  1. ↑ "Alberta election: Calgary-Bow results - Calgary". Globalnews.ca. 2019-03-17. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
  2. ↑ "Alberta election 2023 results: Calgary-Bow | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  3. ↑ Masoud. "SU Election losers – Gauntlet's Archive". Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  4. ↑ "Digital Collections - University of Calgary Convocation, November 2005". digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  5. ↑ Nicolaides, Demetrios (December 2013). "The Effectiveness of the Worldview Transformation Approach to Peace Education in Protracted Ethno-Nationalist Conflicts: The Case of Cyprus" (PDF). University of Cyprus. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  6. ↑ Nicolaides, Demetrios (2011). "Applying Conflict Transformation in Cyprus: A Neo-Functional Approach". Cyprus Review. 23 (1): 49–63. ISSN 2547-8974.
  7. ↑ "Does Cyprus need a National Security Council? | Cyprus Mail". cyprus-mail.com/. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  8. ↑ "The need for a drastic rethinking of a Cyprus solution | Cyprus Mail". cyprus-mail.com/. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  9. ↑ "EU enlargement current challenges and strategic choices | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  10. ↑ "Alberta PC leadership candidate Jason Kenney no longer facing another disqualification meeting | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  11. ↑ Yaremchuksays, Ross. "A Big Nomination Candidate Update: Airdrie-Cochrane to Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright – daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics and Elections". Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  12. ↑ White, Ryan (2020-01-20). "Province unveils new performance-based funding structure for post-secondary institutions". Calgary. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  13. ↑ "Alberta pulls back on performance-based funding, briefly". Times Higher Education (THE). 2021-04-05. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  14. ↑ French, Janet (March 21, 2021). "Pandemic prompts Alberta government to pare back post-secondary funding model changes". CBC News. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  15. ↑ "Subsidizing Profit: UCP Quietly Changes Rules for Post-Secondary Funding". Parkland Institute. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  16. ↑ "AB. Gov. to invest in scholarship programs for apprenticeships". LacombeOnline. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  17. ↑ "UCP announce $10 million for women in trades". edmontonjournal. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  18. ↑ Staff (2019-11-07). "Government providing extra $500K per year to skilled trades program". Edmonton. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  19. ↑ "Alberta creates Skills for Jobs task force - constructconnect.com". Journal Of Commerce. 2019-09-26. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  20. ↑ "Trades Hall of Fame to Honour Skilled Albertans". Gateway Gazette. 2019-12-19. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  21. ↑ "Alberta tables bill that could lead to expanded apprenticeship programs". edmontonjournal. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  22. ↑ "Coronavirus: Alberta universities look to mostly online courses for fall semester | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  23. ↑ Shatz, Deborah (August 2020). "Alberta Native News" (PDF). Alberta Native News. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  24. ↑ Alberta, Government of. "Funding boost for unemployed apprentices". www.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  25. ↑ "Alberta asks post-secondary schools to prepare for in-class learning this fall | News". dailyhive.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  26. ↑ "CityNews". calgary.citynews.ca. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  27. ↑ "Alberta ditches proof-of-vaccine program at midnight, masking for students Monday". Edmonton. 2022-02-08. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  28. ↑ "Alberta's advanced education minister pens letters to post-secondary institutions to lift vaccine and mask requirements". edmontonjournal. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  29. ↑ Todd, Zoe (February 22, 2018). "Grande Prairie College tapped to become university". CBC News. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  30. ↑ Rieger, Sarah (March 5, 2019). "Red Deer College to become Red Deer University". CBC News. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  31. ↑ French, Janet (January 18, 2021). "Colleges in Red Deer, Grande Prairie may not transition into universities as planned". CBC News. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  32. ↑ staff, rdnewsNOW. "Province approves RDC's new name: Red Deer Polytechnic". rdnewsnow.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  33. ↑ Vincent, Mac (2021-12-08). "Grande Prairie Regional College to officially become Northwestern Polytechnic in 2022". My Grande Prairie Now. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  34. ↑ "Alberta Budget 2022 puts emphasis on filling skilled labour void". calgaryherald. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  35. ↑ "More higher education in northeastern Alberta". www.lakelandcollege.ca. 2022-05-11. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  36. ↑ Staff, My Grande Prairie Now (2022-05-25). "Northwestern Polytechnic receives funding to expand healthcare programs". My Grande Prairie Now. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  37. ↑ Hay, Tyler (2022-05-18). "Provincial funding to open new seats in high demand post-secondary programs". My Lethbridge Now. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  38. ↑ Spackman, Sheldon. "New seats added for local post-secondary institutions". rdnewsnow.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  39. ↑ "Edmonton post-secondary schools get $70 million to increase seats". edmontonjournal. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  40. ↑ "Almost 5,000 new seats in 'high demand' Edmonton post-secondary programs funded". Edmonton. 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  41. ↑ greg (2022-03-08). "Expansion of Alberta's vet college hailed as 'bold investment'". Alberta Farmer Express. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  42. ↑ "Province commits $41 million to redevelopment of SAIT's John Ware Building". calgaryherald. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  43. ↑ "03 - Calgary-Bow". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  44. ↑ "03 - Calgary-Bow, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  45. ↑ Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume II (PDF) (Report). Vol. 2. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 11–14. ISBN 978-1-988620-12-1. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  46. ↑ Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume III Election Finances (PDF) (Report). Vol. 3. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 68–82. ISBN 978-1-988620-13-8. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
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