OCUFA welcomes Federal Liberal Party’s commitment to exempt public postsecondary institutions from corporate restructuring

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TORONTO, September 2, 2021 — OCUFA is pleased to see the Federal Liberal Party’s commitment to exempting public postsecondary education institutions from being subject to restructuring under federal legislation. The commitment, on page 31 of the Liberal platform, states that, if elected, the Liberals would, “Protect public post-secondary educational institutions, such as Laurentian University, from being subject to corporate restructuring.”

“We welcome this commitment, but won’t rest until public institutions, like Laurentian University, are exempted from existing corporate restructuring legislation,” said Sue Wurtele, President of OCUFA.

Following Laurentian University’s application for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), OCUFA and its member associations have repeatedly raised concerns about public institutions abusing the CCAA and other legislation designed for private-sector corporations. Laurentian was the first public university in Canada to exploit this legislation and OCUFA wants to make sure it is also the last.

OCUFA will continue to push all federal political parties to make similar commitments and will hold the next parliament accountable for ensuring that the CCAA and Bankruptcy Insolvency Act are updated to exempt all public institutions that receive transfer payments and government operating grants.

As part of this effort, OCUFA recently launched a campaign to put pressure on federal candidates to commit to making these changes: https://ocufa.on.ca/ask-your-federal-candidates-to-exempt-public-institutions-from-the-ccaa/

Founded in 1964, OCUFA represents 17,000 professors and academic librarians in 30 faculty associations across Ontario. It is committed to enhancing the quality of higher education in Ontario and recognizing the outstanding contributions of its members towards creating a world-class university system. For more information, please visit the OCUFA website at www.ocufa.on.ca.

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For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Ben Lewis, OCUFA Communications Lead at 416-306-6033 or communications@ocufa.on.ca