The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) is raising the alarm about the PC party’s election platform with major concerns about the party’s proposal to cut a huge number of education jobs and raise tuition for students and their families.
“The PC proposals will devastate essential public services that Ontarians care about,” said Kate Lawson, President of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). “They want to cut 100,000 jobs in health, social services and education. While they would not have the authority to chop jobs in universities, it is not hard to imagine Hudak imposing his cutting ideology through destructive cuts to vital public funding for higher education.”
Currently, Ontario universities have the lowest level of per-student funding in Canada. Further cuts would damage the quality of education received by Ontario’s university students.
The PC platform also proposes scrapping the grant program that reduces tuition fees for lower- and middle-income Ontario students by 30 per cent. Ontario already has the highest tuition fees in Canada, and the PC proposals would likely drive fees even higher.
“The 30 per cent off grant was not a perfect program, but at least it provided some tuition fee relief to Ontario students and their families,” said Lawson. “The PC platform is apparently committed to making students pay more money for less quality.”
OCUFA is also concerned that the PC platform seeks to lower salaries and wages while increasing unstable, part-time work. Their policy proposals would seriously undermine the ability of unions and faculty associations to protect their members and ensure fair pay and reasonable working conditions.
“The PC party platform is a grab bag of regressive policies,” added Lawson. “We are deeply concerned about the kind of Ontario Mr. Hudak wants to create. Professors and academic librarians want a fair, prosperous province that provides opportunities to youth. Sadly, the PC Party does not seem to share that vision.”
OCUFA is the voice of 17,000 university professors and academic librarians in 28 faculty associations across Ontario. On behalf of its members, it is committed to building a high quality and accessible higher education system in the province.
Visit OCUFA’s website here: www.ocufa.on.ca
For more information:
Caitlin Kealey
ocufa_outreach@ocufa.on.ca
613-818-7956