Politicians scolded for silence on polytechnic proposal

A former New Brunswick politician has taken fivegovernment ministersto task for failing to speak up about a controversial plan to turn the city's university into a polytechnic.

Gordon Fairweather, a former Tory MLA wholeft politics in 1977, took aim at Minister of Post-Secondary Education Ed Doherty, Supply and Services Minister Roly MacIntyre, Energy Minister Jack Keir, Minister of State for Housing Mary Schryer and Minister of Tourism and Parks Stuart Jamieson.

"I thought at least one or two of those five saviours of Saint John would step up to the plate and I'm astounded that we haven't heard a single word from any of them," Fairweather said in a report published Wednesday in the Saint John Telegraph-Journal.

A report released this month recommended the University of New Brunswick Saint John merge with New Brunswick Community College.

Staff, students and university alumni bitterly oppose the idea, saying such a move would short-change students of the university education they deserve.

Fairweather, an Officer of the Order of Canada, made the remarks on Tuesday before hundreds of students, faculty and supporters during a rally at the UNBSJ campus.