Pallister gives back to BU

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This article was published 29/08/2021 (1117 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A famous former Brandon University Bobcat came home to give a gift to his alma mater on Monday morning.

Premier Brian Pallister, just a couple of days away from stepping away as leader of Manitoba and his party, announced a gift of $260,000 to the university to create two new scholarships and supplement previous scholarships his family had created.

His first endowment to BU was an entrance scholarship created in 2001 to support students coming to the school from the Central Plains region.

In 2014, he created a scholarship for female student-athletes in recognition of his tenure as a member of the BU Bobcats back in the late 70s and early 80s as part of the first team from the university to make the national final. 

Present at the announcement was Jerry Hemmings, the BU coach emeritus who coached Pallister during his 30-year tenure in charge of the men’s basketball team. 

On Monday, a second scholarships for male athletes was created as a companion to the other on top of another scholarship that will benefit students transferring from Assiniboine Community College to BU for a joint program.

Pallister made the donation in memory of his younger sister Peggy Tidsbury, who died last year.

The university projects that this new contribution to the Brian and Esther Pallister Fund will increase the total financial impact from the fund from $3,800 per year to more than $15,400 per year. 

While taking questions, the premier was asked about two of his MLAs who spoke publicly against the renewed mask mandate and new public sector vaccination mandate announced last week, Radisson MLA James Teitsma and Borderland MLA Josh Guenter. 

“Forcing Indigenous children to attend residential schools, sterilizing intellectually disabled and Indigenous women without consent (including the creation of eugenics boards), and sending Ukrainian- and Japanese-Canadians to interment (sic) camps, come to mind as some of the worst stains in our country’s brief history,” Teitsma wrote in a Facebook post.

In response, the premier said that if those caucus members keep acting like members of the opposition, they deserve to be in opposition. 

 

» The Brandon Sun