Veterinary school at U of C receives big boost in sparse year for post-secondary funding

Despite balanced books in the latest provincial budget, Alberta continues to reduce overall post-secondary funding programs, with one exception.

That was the University of Calgary's veterinary program, which had $50 million earmarked specifically for it.

It turns out there's a looming shortage of veterinarians, particularly large animal ones, which is what prompted the province to allocate close to $60 million to the school's vet medicine program in Thursday's budget.

"I do cattle, horses, sheeps, goats, pigs," said veterinarian Ryan Wennekamp. "Because of that, you have routine days where you might go out and do a bunch of pregnancy diagnosing on cows, same thing all over all day versus another day where it's emergency after emergency, from a cut horse to a colicky horse to calving to a prolapsed uterus.

"I do all sorts of things and think what I enjoy about my day is (having) no set idea of (what) it's going to look like."

"I think it's a great, rewarding career," says veterinarian Ryan Wennekamp. "I would like to see more people involved in it and having that money going in, hopefully, it will get a bunch of people interested."

EXPANDING PROGRAM

Wennekamp is part of a dying breed.

"You want to eat a healthy steak, you need a vet," said U of C's Renate Weller, the dean of the veterinary faculty. "You want someone to look after your cat, you need a vet. You want research into health? Hello COVID. (It's) very important that moment you need a vet and in all those areas, there is a shortage."

The school says it will use the money to expand programs and double the amount of students each year, from 50 to 100.

The vet school was one of a handful of areas selected for additional funding. Others include aviation, IT, and engineering programs but overall, government funding for post-secondary schools in Alberta continues to decline.

For Weller, the additional funding addresses a provincial need.

"This is huge for the government to give us the opportunity to really address the challenges we have in terms of a veterinary shortage that's just huge," she said.

The province said it's trying to focus on anticipated labour shortages in targeted industries before they actually hit.

Wennekamp said he recommends the job to anyone who never wants to be bored.

"I knew it wasn't a nine to five job," he said. "You're getting into something that is more like a lifestyle. If we get a call at two in the morning, it comes through and you crawl your butt out of your bed, it doesn't matter if it's -40C out or nice.

"That's how it goes.

"I think it's a great, rewarding career," he added. "I would like to see more people involved in it and having that money going in, hopefully, it will get a bunch of people interested."