| Honorific-Prefix: | The Honourable |
| Demetrios Nicolaides | |
| Birth Date: | August 31, 1982 |
| Birth Place: | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Office: | Minister of Education |
| Premier: | Danielle Smith |
| Term Start: | June 9, 2023 |
| Predecessor: | Adriana LaGrange |
| Office1: | Alberta Minister of Advanced Education |
| Premier1: | Jason Kenney, Danielle Smith |
| Term Start1: | April 30, 2019 |
| Term End1: | June 9, 2023 |
| Predecessor1: | Marlin Schmidt |
| Successor1: | Rajan Sawhney |
| Office2: | Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Bow |
| Term Start2: | April 16, 2019 |
| Predecessor2: | Deborah Drever |
| Party: | United Conservative Party |
| Occupation: | Consultant |
| Residence: | Calgary, Alberta |
| Alma Mater: | University of Cyprus |
| Native Name: | Δημήτριος Νικολαΐδης |
| Native Name Lang: | hl |
Demetrios Nicolaides is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Bow in the 30th Alberta Legislature. He is a member of the United Conservative Party.[1] On April 30, 2019, he was appointed to be the Minister of Advanced Education in the Executive Council of Alberta.
He was re-elected in the 2023 Alberta general election.[2]
Nicolaides was born in Calgary. He was elected VP Academic of the University of Calgary's Students’ Union in their 2003 General Election.[3] Nicolaides convocated from the University of Calgary in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and International Relations.[4] He completed his Master in Peaceand Conflict Studies from the European University Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and his PhD in political science from the University of Cyprus. His PhD focused on the effectiveness of approaches to peace education in protractedethno-nationalist based conflicts.[5] Other research work includes the Cyprus conflict, Cypriot foreign anddefence policy and EU integration politics.[6] [7] [8] [9]
Nicolaides was elected as vice-president communications for PC Alberta at the party's 2016 AGM in Red Deer and served until the successful merger of the party with the Wildrose to form the new United Conservative Party of Alberta. Demetrios squashed attempts to disqualify Jason Kenney's candidacy forleader of the party.[10] Nicolaides volunteer extensively on Jason Kenney's PC leadership campaign, themerger of the Wildrose and PC Alberta, and Jason Kenney's UCP leadership campaign. In 2018, Demetrios sought the UCP nomination in Calgary-Bow and faced off against many challengers includingLisa Davis, who retained Nicolaides as her campaign manager during her 2017 election as a school trustee to the Calgary Board of Education in 2017. Nicolaides successfully secured the nominationagainst Lisa Davis, Cheryl Durkee, and 2015 PC Alberta candidate Calgary-Bow and 2016 PC Alberta leadership candidate Byron Nelson on October 23, 2018.[11]
In January 2020, Nicolaides announced that funding for post-secondary institutions would be based on performance against key metrics. Three-year Investment Management Agreements would be signed with individual institutions and each would see 15% of funding at risk in year one, 30% in year two and40% in year three.[12] The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the government to delay implementation of the new model.[13] Nicolaides moved forward with a new implantation timeline thatwould see post-secondary institutions sign a one-year Investment Management Agreement, with 5% of funding at risk against a single metric on work-integrated learning.[14] His office accredited the first for-profit post-secondary institution in Alberta in MaKami College.[15]
As Minister of Advanced Education, Nicolaides prioritized additional support for trades andapprenticeship education. This included establishing a new scholarship for high school students who show promise in the trades. The $1.5 million High School Apprenticeship Scholarship, will help morestudents access post-secondary educational opportunities in the trades.[16] $10 million in new fundingwas also provided to Women Building Futures,[17] $6 million per year to CAREERS: The Next Generationand $2 million annually to Skills Canada Alberta.[18] In addition, a taskforce of experts in the trades andapprenticeship education was convened to provide the government with additional recommendationsto elevate the trades and promote apprenticeship education pathways.[19] Nicolaides also established theTrades Hall of Fame[20] and introduced Bill 67, the Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Education Act thatoverhauled Alberta's trades and apprenticeship legislative and regulatory framework.[21]
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused many of Alberta's post-secondary institutions to move toon-learning which continued throughout the majority of the 2020/21 academic year.[22] Nicolaides provided support to Alberta's five First Nations colleges who each received an additional$100,000 in one-time funding for COVID-19 supports. The grant was used to address technology andWiFi access, support online programming development and delivery ad assists with improve cleaningprotocols.[23] Additional supports were also provided to unemployed apprentices as eligible apprenticeswould now receive $500 more during their classroom instruction period to assist apprentices who areunemployed continue their apprenticeship program.[24] In March 2021, citing increasing vaccination rates, Nicolaides issued a statement to post-secondaryinstitutions to prepare to return to in-person learning for the upcoming 2021/22 Fall academicsemester.[25] While many institutions indeed returned to in-person learning, the rise of the moreinfectious Omicron variant prompted many of Alberta's post-secondary institutions to return to on-linelearning in October and December.[26] By the spring of 2022, the Omicron variant had abated and the Government of Alberta moved forwardwith a plan to remove COVID-19 measures. On February 8, 2022, Premier Jason Kenney announced thatthe proof-of-vaccination program would end at midnight and other COVID-19 measures would beremoved by March 1, 2022.[27] Following this announcement Nicolaides directed post-secondaryinstitutions to remove their vaccine and mask requirements by March 1, 2022.[28]
In February 2018, Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt announced that Grande Prairie RegionalCollege would transition to a university in order to offer degrees in the local community.[29] In 2019, itwas further announced that Red Deer College would also transition to a university.[30] However, in 2021,Nicolaides noted that the two institutions may not transitions to universities as planned as a largerreview of Alberta's post-secondary system was underway.[31] In the end, both institutions transitioned toPolytechnics.[32] [33]
Budget 2022 committed $600 million over three years to address labour shortages through the Albertaat Work initiative. This included $171 million, over three years, to create 10,000 new post-secondaryspaces in high-demand programs.[34] Approximately $4 million was provided to Lakeland College, KeyanoCollege and Portage College to create 400 new spaces,[35] $850,000 was provided to Northern LakesCollege and Northwestern Polytechnic to create 340 new spaces primarily in health care relatedprogramming,[36] $5.3 million was provided to the University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge College andMedicine Hat College to create 184 new spaces,[37] $5.5 million was provided to Red Deer Polytechnic,Burman University and Olds College to create 900 new post-secondary spaces,[38] Edmonton-area post-secondary institutions including the University of Alberta, Concordia University, MacEwan university,NAIT and Norquest collectively received a total of $70 million to create 4,900 new post-secondaryspaces in business, engineering, health, IT and early childhood learning[39] and Calgary-area post-secondary institutions received $84.6 million to create 3,000 new spaces in aviation, quantumcomputing, and healthcare at Ambrose University, Bow Valley College, Mount Royal University, SAIT, St.Mary's University and the University of Calgary. Nicolaides has claimed that the 10,000 new spacescreated through targeted enrolment expansion initiative represent the largest targeted seat increase inAlberta history.[40] In addition, Budget 2022 included a $59 million capital investment to the University OfCalgary Faculty Of Veterinary Medicine to double the number of vet grads[41] and $41 million to continueredevelopment of SAIT's John Ware building, home of its award-winning culinary program.[42]