Friday, November 5, 1993

LIBERAL GOVERNMENT:  In the government of new prime minister Jean Chretien,
sworn in yesterday, science and technology issues will be the responsibility
of the department of industry, headed by the MP for Ottawa South, John
Manley.  Within that department, there will be a "parliamentary secretary"
for "science, research and development", Jon Gerrard, the new MP for the
Manitoba riding of Portage-Interlake.

Neither John English of Kitchener nor Andrew Telegdi of Waterloo will be
in Chretien's cabinet.  Telegdi stopped in to visit UW president James
Downey yesterday; the university is the largest employer in Waterloo riding.

DELAY IN LOANS:  About 500 students are still waiting for loan installments
that should have arrived in mid-October from the Ontario Student
Assistance Program, says Joanne Wade of the UW student awards office.
The delay is in Thunder Bay, where OSAP staff are still scrambling to
write and implement new programs after last year's surprise decision to
overhaul OSAP, eliminating provincial student grants entirely.  Wade says
the main part of the OSAP system is actually working better this year than
last year: some 5,800 students had received their money by the end of 
October 1993, compared to 4,200 at the end of October 1992.  

But co-op students who are in school for only one term at a time are an
anomaly in the system, and OSAP hasn't yet managed to process the second
installment of their loans.  UW is affected more than any other Ontario
university; some of the community colleges, with many short programs
offered, are feeling similar pain.  The money ought to be arriving about
the end of November, says Wade.  She suggests that students who are in
financial crisis because of the delay ask the student awards office about 
emergency help.

PROGRAMMERS COMPETE:  An international collegiate computer programming 
contest, dubbed the "Battle of Waterloo," will be booted up tonight and 
Saturday.  Up to 100 teams from Canada and the United States will enter 
the 1993 East-Central Regionals of the ACM International Collegiate 
Programming Contest. The top two teams will go to the Contest Finals in 
Phoenix, Arizona. (ACM stands for the Association for Computer Machinery.)
Each team of three students will vie with the competition to analyse
and solve up to eight problems by computer in five hours. Registration and
a practice session occur tonight, with the contest under way on Saturday. 
Winners will be announced at a banquet (7 p.m., Waterloo Inn).

PREMIER SPEAKS:  Running Sunday through Tuesday is the "Conference on
Provincial Renewal" sponsored by the Council of Ontario Universities.
Premier Bob Rae will speak at a luncheon Monday and "will be making a major
announcement", a COU media advisory says.

Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs
credmond@watserv1    ext. 3004