[Canadaoer] National OER Advocacy for the Next Federal Election

Dear Canada OER Community, I was reflecting on the fact that we recently went through a federal election campaign where affordability was a central concern for seemingly every party, even to the point of floating vague promises (e.g. wireless mobile cost reductions with little specifics on how this would be practically achieved). Specifically, the NDP noted post-secondary affordability as a key issue, but its focus was more on tuition and grants, and it appeared, to the best of my knowledge, silent on textbook costs. Many parties also seemed relatively unconcerned about making expenditure promises if they figured they would garner votes. Couple these with the fact we are likely looking at a shorter time frame to the next election (most saying 18 to 24 months) and that every party will be looking to improve on their performance from earlier in the month, and I was wondering if there was interest in trying to get OER funding on to any of the federal party's radar (with the hope that given it is a relatively non-partisan issue, that if one party were to propose OER funding others may simply adopt it). I think there might be a variety of approaches/strategies to pursue to get OER funding, but thought I would see if there was some collective interest in pursuing this. Michael -- Michael B. McNally, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education (School of Library and Information Studies) 5-171 Education North, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta CANADA T6G 2J4 mmcnally(a)ualberta.ca Phone: 780-492-3934 Fax: 780-492-2430