On Thursday, June 23, 2016, the Premier’s Highly Skilled Workforce Expert Panel released its final report . The panel was created to help Ontario’s workforce, “adapt to the demands of a technology-driven knowledge economy.” Not surprisingly, the report contains multiple recommendations with implications for the province’s universities. The report recognizes that good work is already being done […]
Government of Ontario
Ontario’s professors and academic librarians are welcoming the news that former Prime Minister Paul Martin will help develop a new Ontario Pension Plan. Martin’s appointment was announced yesterday by Premier Kathleen Wynne. “A consensus is building that that an enhanced public pension plan is a desirable solution to the growing retirement income security crisis for […]
As we reported in last week’s OCUFA Report , Ontario has announced plans to cut the amount of per-student funding provided to the province’s teacher education programs. This week, OCUFA wrote a letter to Minister Liz Sandals (Education) and Brad Duguid (Training, Colleges, and Universities) expressing our concerns. The full text of the letter follows: Dear Ministers Duguid and Sandals, […]
On Wednesday, June 5, 2013, the Government of Ontario announced significant changes to teacher education in Ontario . Unfortunately, they chose to accompany their curriculum changes with a 33 per cent cut to per-student funding for teacher colleges. Some of the structural changes – doubling the length of teacher education from one year to two years – were expected, and will help bring […]
On February 19, 2013, new Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne presented her first Speech from the Throne, outlining the priorities of her government. As expected, the speech contained a heavy focus on deficit reduction, economic growth, and employment. The speech signaled that the government will continue to pursue austerity policies, but reflected a softer approach to […]
Kathleen Wynne was sworn in as Premier of Ontario this afternoon. In addition to a new Premier, the province of Ontario also has a new Cabinet. Brad Duguid has been appointed Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. OCUFA will meet with Minister Duguid in the coming weeks to discuss his vision for the future of […]
Bill Morneau, the Government of Ontario’s advisor on pooled asset pensions, has released his recommendations on how to combine the assets of Ontario’s smaller public pension plans, including those for university faculty. OCUFA is currently conducting a thorough analysis of his report, which we will make available on the OCUFA website soon. In the meantime, […]
On October 9, 2012, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities made troubling comments on faculty in an article that appeared in the Peterborough Examiner. Here is OCUFA President Constance Adamson’s response. This past Wednesday, October 10, 2012 the Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities Glen Murray, in an interview with the Peterborough Examiner, made this statement on the Government of […]
A comprehensive summary and analysis of the Ontario government’s draft anti-labour legislation has been prepared for OCUFA by the legal team at Sack, Goldblatt, Mitchell. It focuses in particular on Schedule 2, titled Respecting Collective Bargaining Act (Public Sector), 2012. According to the legal analysis, the proposed legislation as currently drafted “goes far beyond simply implementing […]
As we reported last week, the Liberal government has unveiled anti-labour legislation that strips public sector employees of their bargaining rights – including professors and academic librarians. OCUFA is moving aggressively to fight back against this legislation. Since the announcement, we have: Attended a meeting a senior public sector union leaders to coordinate strategy, and […]
An established salary grid that provides for an annual salary increase is budget neutral. This may seem counter-intuitive to claim, but it is a fact. The reason for the difference between intuition and reality is because the amount of money tied up in an established salary grid is constant, and it is only individual positions […]
In the wake of the McGuinty government’s imposition of a salary freeze on Ontario’s elementary and secondary teachers, the government has now indicated that it will extend this freeze to the broader public sector. Such a freeze would apply to university sector, including professors and academic librarians. Yesterday, the Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan announced a freeze of executive salaries in the broader public sector . During […]
Video of the July 19, 2012 consultation sessions at Fanshawe College have emerged online. The two videos, of the morning and afternoon sessions, provide an accurate sample of the kinds of discussion and comments made during the roundtables. The Minister of Training. Colleges, and Universities, Glen Murray’s afternoon comments are particulary interesting. They run from […]
On Wednesday, August 29, 2012, OCUFA President Constance Adamson met with Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities Glen Murray. The purpose of the meeting was to follow-up on the recently completed consultations around the discussion paper, Strengthening Ontario’s Centres of Creativity, Innovation, and Knowledge . The Minister indicated that the government hopes to announce its plans for higher education in later fall […]
Last week, OCUFA representatives participated in Government of Ontario consultations at Algonquin College in Ottawa, and at UOIT in Oshawa. The Ottawa session was a full day, and covered a variety of themes. The UOIT session focused on “experiential and entrepreneurial learning”. As with the other roundtables discussions, there was wide agreement on the […]