2022 Ontario Election Advocacy
This election presents a valuable opportunity to put postsecondary education on the agenda and build a better future for Ontario. Each political party is making promises and proposals that will affect university faculty, students, our families, and our communities.
This election, OCUFA is focused on three advocacy priorities:
- Fairness for contract faculty to ensure all faculty are treated with respect and shift Ontario universities away from their dependence on precarious contract labour.
- Increase student financial assistance and replace OSAP loans with grants.
- Strong public funding for universities is necessary to support excellence in teaching and research, especially at universities in Northern Ontario and those that offer Indigenous and bilingual programming.
This webpage provides action you can take to pressure your local Ontario election candidates to support these important investments and includes documents that clarify how the platforms and positions of each political party will impact Ontario’s universities. Please share this site with your friends and colleagues and promote it on your campus.
Check back often for the latest news and additional resources.
This public opinion poll conducted for OCUFA by Ekos Research Associates shows broad support for Ontario’s public postsecondary education system and OCUFA’s election advocacy priorities.
Highlights include:
- 69% of Ontarians believe that postsecondary education should be a high priority for Ontario’s next government.
- The majority of Ontarians believe that the next provincial government should provide more funding to universities.
- Two-thirds of Ontarians agree that students in Northern Ontario should have access to university education in Northern Ontario.
- 71% of Ontarians support legislation that would ensure contract faculty receive equal pay when doing the same work as their full-time colleagues.
- The majority of Ontarians support replacing student loans with non-repayable grants.
Over the years, OCUFA has been a strong advocate for accessible, high-quality postsecondary education delivered through secure academic jobs, by publicly funded, autonomous universities that are governed collegially through shared governance. This vision has been formalized in several OCUFA policies over the years and informed the organization’s advocacy and political lobbying. Below are the main areas of OCUFA’s advocacy platform for the 2022 Ontario election.
View ResourceThis toolkit offers resources and assist faculty associations in planning and mobilizing for the provincial election on their local campuses and in their communities.
View ResourceOCUFA looks forward to working with new Minister of Colleges and Universities
TORONTO, August 19, 2024 – OCUFA welcomes The Honourable Nolan Quinn to his appointment by Premier Doug Ford as Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities. Minister Quinn inherits an extremely important and challenging portfolio, and his term begins as hundreds of thousands of students, faculty, academic librarians and staff return to school across the province. […]
OCUFA succeeds in getting universities exempted from harmful bankruptcy laws
TORONTO, June 20, 2024 – After years of advocacy, the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) and its allies have successfully secured passage of federal legislation that will exclude public universities from the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) and Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA). OCUFA welcomes news that the House of Commons Bill C-59, which included the […]
Bill C 59 Progress Update – Success!
After years of advocacy, the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) and its allies have successfully secured passage of federal legislation that will exclude public universities from the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) and Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA). OCUFA welcomes news that the House of Commons Bill C-59, which included the amendments to CCAA and BIA, […]
University professors say Ontario’s allocation of international student spots misses the big picture
TORONTO, March 27, 2024 – The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations welcomed recent news that almost all international study permits will be allocated to Ontario’s publicly funded universities and colleges but warned that distributing study permits based solely on immediate labour market needs misses the big picture. “Ontario’s public universities prepare students for the […]
Ontario budget gets failing grade from university professors
TORONTO, March 26, 2024 – The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations said the 2024 Ontario Budget gets a failing grade for not supporting the province’s public universities. “This budget fails the test of investing in the long-term health of our world-class publicly funded universities,” said Nigmendra Narain, OCUFA President. “Universities are in a crisis […]