Around 20 workers, students and local candidates of MPP gathered outside the Mohawk College in Hamilton on Wednesday, where a fifth of full -time jobs has been reduced since December, to call the province to better finance postsecundaria education.
Unionized university workers also joined in Kingston, Belleville and Toronto, calling attention to a series of recent work and programs that partly blame the Ontario government.
The cuts in universities are affecting the entire communities, said Heather Giardine-Tuck, who represents members of the Faculty Union.
“We educate students who are doing their radiographs, who are running the machines in local stores. We are so many students who work in their own communities of origin. We need to save this system,” Giardine-Tuck, the president of the Employee Union Local Ontario Public Service (OPSEU) 240, he told CBC Hamilton.
The recent one dismissal In Mohawk College they join More than a dozen programming cuts There, part of an effort to compensate for a projected deficit of $ 50 millionThe university has said.
While Mohawk was one of Ontario’s first universities to announce cuts in autumn, he is far from being alone, added Giardine-Tuck.
Ontario universities, including St. Lawrence College In Kingston, Algonquin cabin in Ottawa, and Centennial University and Seneca University In Toronto, everyone has announced cuts.
International Student Limits is not the only problem
Experts say policy changes Effectively limiting the number of international students in the schools and universities of Ontario was a catalyst for these cuts.
In 2024, the Federal Government said it would issue approximately 300,000 international students less permits in the next three years, a movement that especially affects Ontario, since it had seen a majority of growth in foreign students.
However, some universities also cited a lack of funds from the province.
“This did not happen overnight,” said Giardine-Tuck.
Public financing for postsecundarias schools has decreased since 2006 by students, which has “a decade of financial limitations,” said Steve Orsini, president of the Council of Universities of Ontario, to CBC Hamilton in November. Its organization represents 20 public public universities.
A Expert panel Recommended to increase students and end a freezing of registration in 2023. Orsini said the province has not promulgated those recommendations.
The president of Mohawk College says that the university faces a deficit of $ 50 million mainly due to the elimination of the international enrollment of the students.
In Wednesday’s demonstration in Hamilton, part -time university instructor Christian Latour told CBC Hamilton that he expects a change in the government.
Latour said that “has no faith” in the progressive conservative party of Ontario to manage education, which according to him has been “chronically” sub -financed.
The companion of Latour is also a teacher at Mohawk. They have two adult children with disabilities, he said, and it has been stressful to think about what could happen if he or his partner, or both, lost their job.
“As a part -time faculty, we are never sure if we will be offered contracts again in the next semester,” said Latour.
University dismissals also affected his work, he said, adding that he recently contacted a student successful advisor to get help with a student who was fighting, just to know that they had been cut.
“Someone has left that it would have been direct support for these students to help them succeed,” he said. “It causes me a great concern about the success of my students.”
The systemic lack of funds, said Giardine-Tuck, “forced universities to have to analyze alternative sources of income,” whether they are public-private associations or international students. And since the cuts began to arrive, he said, the province has been largely absent.
“My heart breaks,” he said, adding that the loss of employment could have been avoided.
Opseu, which represents more than 45,000 university professors and support personnel, required $ 1.4 billion in emergency funds to stabilize the sector.
In a January press release, the union said that the first and current PC leader, Doug Ford, “changed the responsibility of financing our universities, a public good, students and institutions.”
In an November email, Dayna Smockum, a spokeswoman for the Minister of Colleges and Universities of Ontario, Nolan Quinn, said that “the financing for postsecundarias institutions is higher than it has been”, and added that the province invested $ 1.3 billion to “stabilize the sector” that before “that before” that before “that before” that “stabilized the sector.” year.
For Mohawk students, the predominant mood seems to be uncertainty and confusion, said Pedro Nemezio de Campos Silva, president of the Mohawk Student Association (MSA).
Nemezio, a newly graduated from the Mohawk educational support program who arrived in Canada from Brazil three years ago, said that MSA is still trying to “completely understand” what changes mean for students.
The main concerns that you are listening are how the cuts can affect the services and spaces on the campus, and if they will affect processes such as academic payments and appeals.
As educator himself, Nemezio told CBC Hamilton that he finds the worrying situation. “Education is an investment. It is the central base of a functional society” and “needs to be supported,” he said.
He added that students are a vulnerable group in which many people are already fighting with the cost of living. Cortes and uncertainty in school receive “an additional cost,” he said.
Alexandria Catherine Davis, studying arts and sciences in Mohawk, said that university cuts inspire them to vote and “make that difference.”
“How in this world can we build a good and stable future for ourselves and maintain the middle class of Canada unless they provide us with things like education and jobs?” They asked.
As someone who is paying their own path through the University and depending on the Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP), Davis said that the uncertainty of layoffs has reached a “scary time.”
Davis said his “heart goes out” to the people who will be affected by the closure of the city school, the long -term Mohawk program that offered free courses to people with little or no post -secondary education.
The University announced that the program will end in March as part of the cuts.
What the parties say
Here is something that the main political parties promise when it comes to university cuts and postsecundaria education.
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
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The PC Party says that “it would continue in negotiations with all schools and universities in their strategic mandate financing agreements”, to ensure that they have the necessary funds to educate students for work in fields such as nursing, medical care and qualified trades.
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On Monday electoral debateThe leader of the PC, Doug Ford, said his government reduced the registration by 10 percent when he was elected and “never raised it.”
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Ford added that his party would focus on supporting students who go to science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and qualified trades because “those are the work of the future.”
New Democratic Party of Ontario
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The NDP would work with universities to “finance and expand” programs, said a spokesman.
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The party said it is “committed to permanently increase base financing and invest in research and innovation”, to avoid more lost jobs and canceled programs.
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If chosen, the NDP says it would invest in research.
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The party has also said that you would finance better OSAP, would end the interests of student loans and turn loans to subsidies.
Liberal Ontario Party
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The liberals did not answer specific questions of CBC Hamilton, but they have said they would finance the post -secondary school so that they do not have to trust the enrollment of international students.
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The party also said that it would limit the international registration of students to 10 percent of the student body of each school.
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The liberals said they would eliminate the interests of OSAP loans and not require reimbursement until the recipients win $ 50,000 per year.
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In the debate, Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie also said that his party would increase OSAP.
Green Ontario Party
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The Greens did not answer specific questions of CBC Hamilton, but they have said that they would increase postsecundaria financing by 20 percent.
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The party said it would finance the sector based on registration instead of performance, with increases linked to inflation.
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The Greens also said they would turn OSAP loans for subsidies for low -income students and eliminate the interests of student debt.
