Today is a dark day for higher education in Canada. The Conservative government of Mr. Ford is allowing Laurentian University to be dismembered following a fiscal crisis that was in large part their doing. What is left following the court-ordered restructuring is barely recognizable as a university. Laurentian faculty and staff are being treated in an appalling manner, after being forced to agree to draconian measures under threat of closure. Among the 69 programs cut are the Indigenous and Francophone programs, and most of the Arts & Humanities.
Laurentian has lost its identity; rural Ontario has lost a significant economic driver. The Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations (MOFA) calls on the PC government of Mr. Ford to halt this process; to provide the interim funding to allow a rational restructuring with full and open consultation with faculty, and to honour collective agreements they have bargained in good faith.