Laurentian makes post-secondary education a bigger election issue in Ontario's north

Laurentian University's insolvency has made post-secondary education an important election issue in northern Ontario, but it's not a big priority elsewhere, according to experts in the field.

David Tabachnick, a political science professor at Nipissing University in North Bay, said that historically, post-secondary education has rarely been a top 5issue during provincial elections.

And that remains true now, except in parts of northern Ontario, he said.

"Ontario funds their students the least, you know, per student in the entire country," he said.

"And so you would think that this crisis, in essence, which of coursemanifests in some ways in the collapse of Laurentian, would garner more attention. It certainly does in Sudbury. But as far as a big election issue across the province, I just do not see it breaking through."

In February 2021, Laurentian University filed for insolvency, and that April,the Sudbury university cut 69 programs and 194 jobs, including more than 100 professors.

Laurentian is undergoing a restructuring process under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) that was recently extended to Sept. 30.

Tabachnick said the major issues for the June 2election have been affordability, especially around inflation and housing prices, and health care.

Larry Savage, a labour studies professor at Brock University in St. Catharines,agreesthat post-secondary educationand fundinghavebeen overshadowed by affordability and health care during the election cycle.

Savage said the Ontario Confederation of UniversityFaculty Associations (OCUFA) has targeted 19 ridings that either include, or are near, a university in order to bring post-secondary education to the forefront.

"I think that you'll see in the Sudbury area that this campaign will take on a little different dimension because of what happened at Laurentian specifically," Savage said.

"The performance of the Ford government vis-a-vis Laurentian, or its perceived inaction around Laurentian, is really going to fuel a lot of anger and make post-secondary [education[a much bigger issue in that region than it is maybe in other parts of the province."

The OCUFA's priorities are for universities to receive increased operating grants from the province and for the government to repeal Bill 124.

The bill limits public-sector employee salary increases to one per cent per year. Health-care workers, such as nurses, have been critical of the legislation, but it also affects workers in post-secondary education, including professors.

"This has become particularly important since inflation in Ontario is now at seven per cent and the provincial government is capping annual salary increases at one per cent," Savage said.

What the parties have promised

The Progressive Conservatives' last proposed budget said they would invest $42.5 million over two years beginning in 202324 to help expand undergraduate and postgraduate medical education and training in the province.

Tabachnik said that while Ontario's auditor general identified management as one issue that helped cause Laurentian's financial difficulties, the province's 10 per cent tuition reduction in 2019, and tuition freeze, amplified those problems.

"Unfortunately, the solution that governments have sort of suggested to the post-secondary sector as far as revenue goes is to attract international students."

He said some universities, especially in southern Ontario, have done a good job at attracting international students, who don't have a cap on tuition, but others, especially in the north, have struggled in that area.

The New Democrats have said they would move away from the Conservatives' performance-based funding model for universities to instead "ensure reliable funding and faculty renewal."

The NDP platform also promises to wipe out any student loan interest owed or paid to the province.

The Liberals have said they would keep the current tuition freeze for domestic students in place, but would increase operating grants to universities.

The Greens have promised to eliminate post-secondary tuition altogether, to provide more funding for universities and pay professors more.

"If you don't spend $50 billion on highways that are destructive, you've got $50 billion more. That's a huge chunk of the budget," said Sudbury Green Party candidate David Robinson, who lost his job as a Laurentian University professor due to the insolvency cuts.

Robinson said Laurentian would "limp ahead" under a Progressive conservative government with minimal program expansion. He said he also doesn't expect much from the Liberals and NDP on Laurentian because they "don't seem to understand the talent economy that we're in and its importance in Sudbury."

University of Sudbury hopes to stand alone

Laurentian's insolvency created a ripple effect that prompted the former Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) to seek its independence. In April, it cut its ties to Laurentian and Lakehead Universityin Thunder Bayand became NOSM University.

The University of Sudbury, which was once one of Laurentian's three federated universities, has started to follow the same path has NOSM.

The small institution hopes to become a standalone French-language university.

Serge Miville, the University of Sudbury's president and vice-chancellor, said he views their plans to seek independence as apolitical.

"We have an excellent relationship with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities," he said.

"So we're looking forward to working with whoever forms the government after the election. And I think what this election has really shown so far is that the file of the university, to some degree, it's really a non-partisan issue right now."

The Liberals, Greens and New Democratshave all said they would support the University of Sudbury's plans to gain independence as a francophone institution, but the Conservatives have been quieter on the topic during the campaign.