Ontario plans to add 20,000 post-secondary students this year as part of its ambitious five-year plan, announced lieutenant governor David Onley in the Throne Speech Monday, opening the second session of the province’s 29th parliament.
“That’s the equivalent of a whole new University of Guelph,” read the speech. “Every qualified Ontarian who wants to go to college or university will find a place.”
The Open Ontario Plan aims to raise Ontario’s postsecondary education rate from 62 per cent to 70 per cent, adding to an increase of 180,000 spaces in college, universities, and apprenticeships since 2003.
The plan will also see the development of a new Ontario Online Institute that will allow students to take courses from a number of colleges and universities from home. Positions for international students, who currently spend $1 billion per year in Ontario on rent, groceries, and clothing, will increase by 50 per cent in the next five years.
The plan got mixed reviews from student leaders at U of T. “When they make an announcement like this that they are expanding the education system and making it more accessible to more students, that is pretty exciting for us,” said James Finlay, running for VP external in the upcoming UTSU elections. “But I think we’re waiting to see the fine print and the details. We’re not strangers to good news, but good news isn’t always how we expect it to pan out.”
Zexi Wang, Finlay’s opponent in the UTSU race, wrote in an email, “Without additional funding for full-time professors and quality in smaller class sizes [this plan] will exacerbate existing problems of large class sizes and inaccessible professors and teaching staff. […] I am also concerned that the plan to increase international student spaces… it’s ridiculous that they basically become treated as cash cows in our system.”
Hadia Akhtar, the current VP external at UTSU, was unavailable for comment on this story.
The Throne Speech and the Open Ontario Plan have both faced criticism from Ontario’s opposition parties.
“They remain wedded to the same out-of-control job-killing taxes, spending, and new debt that turned Ontario into a have-not province in the first place,” said Tim Hudak, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.
“Ontario families worried about their jobs, their health care, and the growing cost of living got a Throne Speech that offers lots of talk, but little action,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
The Open Ontario Plan also proposed a Water Opportunities Act to capitalize on the province’s clean-water technology; to increase chromite mining while working with Aboriginal communities and mining companies to protect 50 per cent of the boreal forest; a Green Energy Act; and a $32 billion investments in roads, bridges, public transit, and energy retrofits for schools.
