Tell Your MPP: Fund the Colleges!

  Ontario’s Colleges are in trouble. In the last year, over 10,000 faculty and staff have been laid off, and we expect to see many more talented, hardworking people lose their jobs in the next year. Conestoga College just announced sweeping layoffs of faculty and staff before the holidays.  Since the last federal budget cut the number of new international student visas in half nationwide, Ontario’s 24 public colleges have been threatening more program closures , laying off employees, and shutting down whole campuses.       The Problem   The reduction in international student visas is only adding stress to a system that in already on the verge of collapse.  As recent reporting makes clear, the failure of the system is Doug Ford’s responsibility . The Ontario college system struggles to cover its most basic costs. This is because Ontario colleges and universities receive the lowest level of public funding per-student in Canada, by a long shot. In 2023,...