On November 21st, the Federal government announced it will amend the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, to exclude public post-secondary educational institutions from becoming the subject of proceedings under either Act. These Acts were infamously used by Laurentian University in 2021 cut 58 undergraduate and 11 graduate programs, and eliminated 194 full-time positions (including 116 full-time faculty). 

On November 15th, the Ontario Blue-Ribbon Panel on Postsecondary Education Financial Sustainability released its report.  

The report states (on page 35): “Before we leave this section on enhancing cost efficiency and effectiveness, we want to address the frequent criticism of the postsecondary sector regarding how much is spent on people, notably faculty members. A fuller analysis tells a different story. For example, salary and benefit costs in Ontario’s universities per full-time equivalent student are lower than in almost every other province.”