U of W boss to serve on Alberta review panel

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/08/2015 (3933 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Alberta’s new NDP government has named University of Winnipeg president Annette Trimbee as a member of a four-person panel conducting a comprehensive review this fall of royalty rates within the province’s oil-and-gas industry.

Part of her job as a university president is to serve the public interest, Trimbee said in an interview from Edmonton Friday.

“As a university president, it is within my scope and personal responsibility to engage in public dialogue,” Trimbee said.

Trimbee, a longtime Alberta senior civil servant who came to Winnipeg a year ago, said she made it clear to the Notley government being U of W president is her top priority. She will be on campus here for every event at which she is required this fall, Trimbee said.

“I’ll give top priority to my job at the U of W,” she said. “This will take a day a week — I’ll spend a day a week in Edmonton. I’m quite prepared to use up holiday time.” Trimbee said Alberta will not pay her any remuneration for being a member of the panel on the high-profile royalty review, but will cover all her expenses.

Alberta Energy Minister Marg McGuaig-Boyd said Friday the panellists have a tough job ahead and are to report by the end of December.

They are “some of Alberta’s best minds,” said McGuaig-Boyd, who described Trimbee in a news release as a former deputy minister of finance in Alberta.

McGuaig-Boyd’s staff pointed out the news release had links to the ministry website and to panellists’ biographies, in which Trimbee was listed as the current president of the University of Winnipeg.

The university sent out an internal communication Friday telling the campus Trimbee will maintain her full commitment to the university.

The campus has been told Trimbee won’t be paid by Alberta, and will do most of her panel work on her own time and as much as possible of the work will be done in Winnipeg, said U of W Students Association president Peyton Veitch.

“The Alberta government will be lucky to have her,” Veitch said.

The university said Friday board of regents chairman Eric Johnstone and chancellor Bob Silver both signed off on Trimbee’s Alberta appointment.

Advanced Education Minister James Allum declined to comment — the U of W is an independent institution, said an aide to the minister.

“It’s a feather in the cap of the University of Winnipeg,” said Ryerson University Prof. James Turk, former executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. “That should send a signal to the community that she’s a person of some importance.

“University presidents have traditionally been seen as prestigious members of society. Governments have asked them to be members of tribunals and commissions,” Turk said.

Too many university presidents spend their outside time doing corporate work, said Turk. “This is in the public interest.”

Todd MacKay, Prairie director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said Trimbee’s absence should not adversely affect students.

“If she’s using holiday time, Manitoba taxpayers aren’t on the hook,” MacKay said. “Good on her for helping out. Some people like vacationing in Cancun, some people like doing royalty reviews.”

The U of W Faculty Association could not be reached Friday.

Trimbee said she chooses very carefully among other jobs she’s asked to do and weighed the Alberta request received three weeks ago before agreeing to get involved.

She’d welcome being asked to get involved in major public policy deliberations here, especially anything looking at the health of Lake Winnipeg, Trimbee declared.

“I certainly would. I would love to get involved in a big way in substantive policy in the Red River basin,” she said.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca