Social Policy in Ontario

Federal budget creates a massive educational opportunity for Doug Ford

Posted on November 18, 2025 in Education Debates

Source: TheStar.com — Authors: Diane Orihel

TheStar.com – Opinion/Contributors
Nov. 17, 2025.   By Diane Orihel, Contributor

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government may have just inadvertently created a political opportunity for Premier Doug Ford.

The so-called “Canada Strong” budget included some alluring promises for Canada’s academic community: $1 billion to recruit 1,000 top-notch international researchers, along with $400 million for infrastructure and instruments to support their programs. Plus, over $250 million for recruiting international assistant professors, post-doctoral fellows, and PhD students. A significant, and most welcome, investment in Canada’s research capacity and innovation strategy.

But the budget was not all good news for universities, not least those in Ontario. In fact, the federal budget may deliver a damming blow to many of the province’s universities.

The financial hardships at Ontario’s universities are now, unfortunately, too well known. No province in Canada has cut public funding to universities like Ontario. Earlier this year, the Council of Ontario Universities reported that 14 universities are projecting total operating deficits of more than $400 million in 2025-26.

Funding for Ontario universities comes from three main sources: annual operating grants from the province, domestic tuition fees, and international student tuition fees. And in a perfect trifecta, all three revenue streams are now cut or frozen.

Embarrassingly, Ontario’s universities have the lowest per-student funding of any province in Canada. In 2022-23, each Ontario university student was funded at a level of $10,246 per domestic full-time-equivalent student — which is over $6,500 less than the Canadian average of $16,789. On top of that, in 2019, the province cut domestic tuition by 10 per cent and it has since remained frozen.

And while the province has announced some targeted funding for universities, these investments fall short of the recommendations in the Blue-Ribbon Panel on Post-secondary Education Financial Sustainability — and are nowhere near enough to move Ontario out of last place in per-student funding, according to the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

These budgetary constraints are being felt at universities across Ontario.

Not only through crumbling infrastructure and outdated instrumentation, but also through austerity measures like reductions in support staff, early retirement incentives, and hiring freezes for new faculty. Such actions have resulted in Ontario having the worst student-teacher ratio of any province in the country.

Moreover, larger class sizes, fewer teaching assistants, and stripped-down learning opportunities have quickly become the norm on many university campuses.

Over half a million young people are educated in Ontario’s universities every day — a number which is forecasted to surge in the coming years, putting additional strain on these already strained post-secondary institutions. And moreover, this means many young people in Ontario who want to attend university won’t be able to secure a spot. That number may be as high as 100,000 by 2030.

And now, to add insult to injury, the immigration plans in the 2025 federal budget will further strain Ontario universities by squeezing the potential revenue stream from international students.

To compensate for inadequate provincial funding and frozen tuition, many Ontario universities had turned to international students, as these students usually pay substantially more for tuition than domestic students. But last year, the Carney government capped the number of international students, which impacted many Ontario universities.

To bring immigration “back to sustainable levels,” the budget slashes the number of international students admitted to Canada even further — by approximately one-half, from a previous target of 305,900 students to 155,000 students in 2026, and 150,000 students for 2027 and 2028. The implication, of course, is that, yet again, Ontario universities will take another financial hit.

Furthermore, given their sorry state, how will Ontario universities be able to compete with other provinces to attract and retain the “exceptional” international researchers for the 1,000 chair positions promised in the new budget?

The provincial government recently initiated a process to revamp the funding model for Ontario’s colleges and universities. Herein lies a decisive moment for Premier Ford.

The premier has a golden political opportunity to swoop in to save Ontario’s universities by restoring adequate public funding for post-secondary institutions. But more importantly, the premier has an opportunity to leave a lasting, meaningful legacy for Ontario’s young people and the province’s future prosperity.

Dr. Diane Orihel is Queen’s National Scholar and Associate Professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/federal-budget-creates-a-massive-educational-opportunity-for-doug-ford/article_91308be8-a64f-4a80-ba03-330e9d26071f.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a07&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=0C810E7AE4E7C3CEB3816076F6F9881B&utm_campaign=pol_hl_25441

Tags: budget, Education, featured, jurisdiction, standard of living, youth

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