New University...where should it go?

[kettal]

From The Globe:


Its sort of a shame he used a legitimate problem to issue a flat proposal for two track health care. Never the less, I think he is right on the larger imbalance between health care and nearly everything else. Nobody is denying that healthcare is important for the economy, but as it stands more and more of our money will be funneled into chronic care for geriatric boomers. Meanwhile the people who will be expected to pay for it are being screwed on educational funding and, hence, longterm productivity.

He's still right. Canada is the only non-communist place in the world where a healthcare monopoly is law.

Unfortunately whenever two-track is mentioned, Canadians go nuts like it's a sign of the apocalypse.

 

[ShonTron]

On the matter of parking, council directed City staff to investigate the request, but again, did not make any commitments.

Mr. Duignan said it is vital for the City to make parking available for downtown developments, noting council has a longstanding policy that requires it to do so.

“Without the parking, UOIT can’t justify the development,†he said. “Like any other developer, they want to know that if they invest millions in the downtown, there will be parking.â€

The City has rates that apply to short term and leased parking spots in the downtown, and Mr. Duignan said UOIT will pay for its spots -- although the university may get a volume discount for leasing so many.

Parking? University of Waterloo has minimal parking at both the Architecture School in Galt and the Pharmacy School in Downtown Kitchener. Has anyone seen pictures of Downtown Oshawa - two of the parking garages are amongst the tallest buildings there!

 

[Cooool]

Aren't they building a Waterloo Campus somewhere in the Mississauga City Centre. That would be a good first step in creating a downtown.

 

[Observer Walt]

^ They are about to build a Sheridan College campus in downtown Mississauga, and yes it will be a good further step (hardly a first step) in enhancing the downtown.

There has been a bit of talk (vague, as far as I know) about creating a campus of Wilfrid Laurier in Milton. Whether it will happen remains to be seen.

 

[rdaner]

Stratford Institute inches closer to reality & UWO involvement

Stratford another step closer
Posted By DONAL O'CONNOR
Posted 20 hours ago

http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2169070


Acting in committee-of-the-whole Monday night, city council unanimously backed a deal with the University of Waterloo that commits the municipality to $10 million in construction costs and to providing eight acres of downtown property that meets residential environmental standards.

The agreement that obviously targets the Cooper site, or part of it, for a campus has been pending for many months and has hardly been a secret.

The inking of a formal agreement, however, moves things forward and a construction start is anticipated next year.

The city is also agreeing to take a leadership role in raising an additional $5 million in capital costs and to make "reasonable efforts" to secure additional adjacent land for the university for parking.

That's all separate from the $10 million in capital the Ontario government has already provided towards the Stratford campus.

A master plan is being developed for the entire site, and location will be available for the YMCA and "in the future" for the public library, says a background report.

There's provision too for the disposition of the lands and the municipal capital contribution if the proposed campus isn't constructed or ceases operation as a campus within 20 years.

Up to $8 million from the city is to be paid to the university as construction costs are incurred. The remaining $2 million of the $10-million construction pledge is payable on substantial completion of the work.

Monday's nod of confidence in the proposed agreement came only after city council heard some advice from Lawrence Ryan, owner of the Cooper site for the past 12 or so years and from whom the city is expropriating the 11.5- acre site.

Although Mr. Ryan said he was "very pleased" the city is about to enter into an agreement with the university, he suggested council await a structural report he commissioned for the existing building on the site.

Mr. Ryan also offered to give the city some ideas on cost savings for using the existing structure and advised council should be careful not to make the same mistake it made 14 years ago when the municipality owned the Cooper property.


"You don't want to have an agreement that leaves too many things up for grabs," he said.

City resident Keith Hillier addressed council as well last night about the university deal. He suggested council hadn't fully considered the impact the agreement will have on taxpayers and there should be some public discussion.

He predicted the financial commitment to the university, which he estimated at about $22 million (including $7 million for environmental work) would result in city taxes "exploding" in the years ahead.

Coun. Tom Clifford, chair of the city's finance committee, suggested Mr. Hillier attend the pre-budget meeting scheduled for Nov. 25 at 4:30 p.m. at the Rotary Complex.

The formal agreement between the municipality and the university does not specifically mention the Cooper site, but the city's commitment is to provide initially a single site of at least eight acres in the downtown core that can accommodate a 45,000-square-foot building housing a professional master's program for 100 students, a year-round conference facility and a research institute.

A second phase development anticipates expansion for an undergraduate program.

The city was supposed to take possession of the Cooper site Sept. 18 under an expropriation timetable, but the takeover remains tied up in court following an application made by Mr. Ryan to extend the deadline.

Mr. Ryan has challenged an appraisal of the property that would see the city paying $500,000 "as is" or $4.3 million if the property were free of environmental issues.

Court heard last month that Mr. Ryan and 1353837 Ontario Inc. would need about 12 weeks for an engineering report to be completed and to be ready to make their case.
Article ID# 2169070
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2009-11-06 14:30:48
Waterloo and Western explore Stratford digital media collaboration

http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/news.php?id=5138

STRATFORD, Ont. (Friday, Nov. 6, 2009) - The universities of Waterloo and Western Ontario will collaborate on teaching, research and professional efforts on Waterloo's soon-to-be-established Stratford campus.

The two institutions today signed a memorandum of understanding in Stratford to investigate shared academic initiatives. They will look to collaborate on research and professional activities, particularly in the area of digital media, and jointly promote Canada's digital media sector. They will also explore opportunities to co-operate on the development of the Stratford Institute, with a view of having Western become an active participant.

"The University of Waterloo welcomes Western's enthusiasm for, and participation in, the development of a digital media campus and institute," said David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo. "Western has well-established strengths in media, both traditional and digital, as well as in information technologies, which can only contribute to the success of our efforts to establish Stratford and Canada as digital media leaders."

"Western has considerable expertise in the areas of digital media, communications and information technologies," said Amit Chakma, president of the University of Western Ontario. "We look forward to exploring opportunities to collaborate with the University of Waterloo and its Stratford Institute."

Waterloo is currently creating a satellite campus in Stratford, focused on undergraduate and graduate education in digital media and the related areas of business, technology and creativity. The campus will also be home to the Stratford Institute, envisioned as a world-leading think tank and research institute in digital media, involving strong academic-business partnerships and significant commercialization activities.

The University of Western Ontario has expertise across the institution in various aspects of digital media, information technologies and critical media studies. Western's faculty of science has strengths in digital gaming and game programming, and its faculty of information and media studies is a national leader in undergraduate and graduate media studies, critical media studies, and the study of communication and information technologies. Western has helped spin off digital media companies, such as EK-3, and London is home to many leading digital companies, including Digital Extremes, named one Financial Post's Ten Best Companies to Work For - 2010

 

[jje1000]

Resurrecting this thread as I was reading this article about the plight of Montreal-area English Universities following the enforced out-of-province tuition hikes by the CAQ in October- I wonder if a prudent Ontario government would begin discussions on Ontario campuses for Quebec English unis? Perhaps a Concordia/Bishop-Ontario might be unviable, but I could see a McGill Toronto 'branch' campus as a major cinch for Toronto, one that could theoretically expand over time into a major campus of its own if needed.

This Quebec university tuition thing

Welcome, out-of-province students! Don't come! Pay more money!

paulwells.substack.com

The International Student Policy. The $17,000“forfaitaire” grab is going to cost McGill and Concordia somewhere between $100 and $150 million each, and Bishop’s around $6.5 million. Proportionately, this hits Concordia by far the worst: for them this represents 12-13% of total income, whereas for McGill and Bishop’s the proportion is more like that 6-8% of total income. They will get some of this back through international students being re-instated in the weighted enrolment calculation – how much we don’t know – and possibly some through re-distribution of funds (as noted above it’s not entirely clear how this will work). And this all kicks in right away, in year one.

The Out-to-Province Student Policy. The full effect of this will take 3 to 4 years to kick-in because current students are grand-fathered out. But assuming that the higher tuition fee costs Concordia and Bishop’s three-quarters of their out-of-province students and McGill half (McGill’s brand probably makes demand for its spaces a little less elastic than at the other two), then the fully-phased in hit to the three universities from both the loss of fees and enrolment-weighted funding is about $5 million at Bishop’s, $18 million at Concordia and $32 million at McGill; in year one, it will be about 30% of that.

That’s all ceteris paribus, of course. All institutions will do what they can to raise money in other ways. All of them, I suspect, will seek more international students to make up for the losses. McGill might be able to make that work well enough to offset their revenue losses; I suspect it will be more difficult for Bishop’s and Concordia. There’s no way at this point to really see how it will work out for institutions. But I can pretty much guarantee you that the way the financial incentives are currently structured, it is deeply unlikely that the Government of Quebec will meet its goal of reducing the number of English-speaking students in Montreal. International students will simply replace out-of-province ones.

But there’s something else I can guarantee, and that has to do with McGill’s role not in Quebec but in Canada. For decades, McGill has been the place where talented young Canadians were most likely to choose to gather. More than any other university in the country, it was always able to attract a healthy numbers of students from one end of the country to the other. Say what you like about the concept of a “Laurentian elite”, but to the extent that this term has meaning, its homeland is McGill and Montreal. That, I suspect, is mostly over now. What the CAQ is fundamentally doing is trying to separate Montreal from the rest of Canada. To diminish it from a national treasure to purely Quebecois one. And that is genuinely a national tragedy.

https://higheredstrategy.com/that-big-quebec-policy-announcement/

Of course the question- where would a theoretical McGill Toronto 'branch' campus go? Ideally it would be downtown or on a major transit line to play on the synergies that U of T has with its research/health network, but there really isn't room where such a campus can freely expand- even Ryerson/Toronto Metropolitan is forced to squeeze itself piecemeal where it can. Though, possibly...the Ontario Science Centre site?

(Also as a tangent- I noticed that there were plenty of conversations in French walking around the downtown core on Sunday, far more than I'd expected, and from non-touristy-looking folks.)

 

[Towered]

ECC is ripe for a higher education campus for a change, especially given how its new downtown is coming together.

 

[rdaner]

Resurrecting this thread as I was reading this article about the plight of Montreal-area English Universities following the enforced out-of-province tuition hikes by the CAQ in October- I wonder if a prudent Ontario government would begin discussions on Ontario campuses for Quebec English unis? Perhaps a Concordia/Bishop-Ontario might be unviable, but I could see a McGill Toronto 'branch' campus as a major cinch for Toronto.

This Quebec university tuition thing

Welcome, out-of-province students! Don't come! Pay more money!

paulwells.substack.com

https://higheredstrategy.com/that-big-quebec-policy-announcement/

Of course the question- where would a theoretical McGill Toronto 'branch' campus go? Ideally it would be downtown or on a major transit line to play on the synergies that U of T has with its research/health network, but there really isn't room where such a campus can freely expand- even Ryerson/Toronto Metropolitan is forced to squeeze itself piecemeal where it can. Though, possibly...the Ontario Science Centre site?

(Also as a tangent- I noticed that there were plenty of conversations in French walking around the downtown core on Sunday, far more than I'd expected, and from non-touristy-looking folks.)

I’d say the Portlands.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I’d rather we build a focused college for nursing and trades - sectors where we’re short. We don‘t need another university churning out arts grads or serving as a cash cow of international students pursuing useless marketing "degrees".

 

[toaster29]

I’d rather we build a focused college for nursing and trades - sectors where we’re short. We don‘t need another university churning out arts grads or serving as a cash cow of international students pursuing useless marketing "degrees".

This sounds a little like that American rhetoric we hear so often. In Canada, University/college tuition isn't as extreme as it is in America. There's nobody going into 6-7 figure debt from a gender-studies degree. Let people study the things that are of interest to them? And, on the other hand, to entice people to go into fields like Nursing or the Trades, make tuition free. There still needs to be a major correction in salary for people to want these jobs, unless we just expect immigrants to fill them all.

 

[lenaitch]

Something that is free is worth exactly what you paid for it. We can't have cradle-to-grave socialism and complain about taxes at the same time.

You don't have to take a post secondary to learn a trade; you learn on the job through an apprenticeship plus some trade schooling. At one time, trade councils and unions ran their own schools; I don't know how it operates now. One of the problems is many contractors and master trades either don't want to take on an apprentice or are limited on how many they can take at one time. Another problem is the social push towards getting a degree that has been ongoing for several decades.

The debt load might not be as significant as some institutions in the US but I don't think anybody is arguing that post-secondary education is cheap. If you spend several years in a college or university and rack up debt without a plan on how you are going to put that education to work paying off said debt and earning a living, that's on the rhetorical you.

 

[Mount Dennis Resident]

From October, 2023...

Ford minister assured evangelical school it could get university status regardless of board review​

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-charles-mcvety-toronto-christian-college/

The head of a Toronto-area Christian college widely rebuked for his anti-LGBTQ and Islamophobic statements was assured that the province could still approve the school’s controversial bid to acquire university status – even if an independent review board advised against it.

The revelation is contained in transcripts of a recorded phone conversation from Oct. 28, 2020, between Ross Romano, then-minister of colleges and universities who had the power to approve the proposal, and Charles McVety, the president of Canada Christian College.

At the time, the evangelical leader was a friend and ally of Premier Doug Ford.

Mr. Romano would later turn down Mr. McVety’s request, after the province’s Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board (PEQAB) cited “severe” shortcomings in the school’s governance, administrative capacity, financial stability and academic decision-making.

Mr. Romano is no longer a cabinet minister and now serves as the Progressive Conservative government’s chief whip.

According to the transcripts, submitted by Mr. McVety in an unsuccessful court battle against the denial of his application, Mr. Romano did tell him that he needed to follow the PEQAB process.

But he also said Mr. McVety should try to address enough of the shortcomings identified by PEQAB to make it possible for the minister to approve the school’s requested upgrade, even if the board did not.

“You’re going to get this report back from them,” the transcript reads. “And we have been working with them before that came back to you to make sure that you know exactly what the three or four areas that you need to meet in order for a positive recommendation to come back, or at least make it as easy as possible for me to sign off no matter what.”

The phone call took place as the PC government was facing a storm of criticism over Mr. Ford’s close links to Mr. McVety. It had introduced legislation to rename his religious school in Whitby, east of Toronto, as the “Canada University and School of Graduate Theological Studies,” and for it to be allowed to hand out bachelor of arts and science degrees in addition to the religious degrees it already confers.

The transcripts appear to contradict public statements from both Mr. Romano and the Premier at the time that the college would need PEQAB approval or the legislation would not take effect.

According to the court submission, the conversation was recorded by Charles McVety’s son, Ryan McVety, the college’s vice-president and chief executive officer. Earlier in the phone call, Mr. Romano says the name change and the expanded degree-granting powers were always the goal and that the government would help the evangelical leader achieve it.

“What I said was that we were going to go through this process, that we’re going to guide this process through and we are going to make sure you got to where you wanted to go, and right where you want it to get,” says Mr. Romano, MPP for Sault Ste. Marie, according to the transcripts. “That’s always been the goal.”

Asked about the transcripts, Mr. Romano sent an e-mailed statement to The Globe and Mail.

“As this matter is currently before the courts, it would be inappropriate to provide an interpretation of the content or accuracy of the said transcripts,” Mr. Romano said. “However, I always maintained that an institution seeking additional degree-granting authority should apply to and co-operate with the process set out by the Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board.”

Mr. McVety did not provide answers to Globe questions about the transcripts.

Marit Stiles, Leader of the Official Opposition New Democratic Party, said the transcript fits into a pattern of the government’s dealings with connected insiders, including its now-cancelled move to open up parts of the protected Greenbelt for housing.

“It looks like the government was going to do everything they could to give McVety preferential treatment here, to make sure that everything was fixed for him,” Ms. Stiles said.

Much of the recorded call shows Mr. McVety complaining that the PEQAB had posted his entire application on its website amid the controversy, without redacting personal information such as phone numbers, résumés, or his institution’s financial information. PEQAB CEO James Brown later apologized for the privacy breach.

At one point in the call, Mr. Romano’s then-chief of staff, Ari Laskin, says that he and Jamie Wallace, Mr. Ford’s chief of staff at the time, would advise Mr. McVety on how to respond to media requests about the privacy issue.

In an affidavit submitted to court by Ryan McVety, he alleges that both he and his father had met with Mr. Wallace in 2019 and in 2020 to discuss the issue and were initially assured it would not need to pass a PEQAB review. But the McVetys say the government later changed its mind for “political reasons.”

In a text message to The Globe, Mr. Wallace said he disputes a number of the assertions in the affidavit but declined to comment in detail because he said the matter is before the courts. However, he said “it was repeatedly made clear that [Canada Christian College] would need to meet every process and requirement attached to their application, including PEQAB approval.”

While the Premier and Mr. McVety were once closely aligned, with Mr. McVety holding events and supporting Mr. Ford’s 2018 bid for the PC leadership, the relationship since the university application went south appears to have cooled.

Mr. McVety, who blamed “political corruption” for the decision against him, has since been sued for libel by Mr. Ford’s campaign manager, Kory Teneycke, for comments he made about the political strategist after the school’s bid was denied.

For years, Mr. McVety was one of the country’s most vocal opponents of same-sex marriage.

In 2010, after a Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruling, his TV show was thrown off a Christian television network. He had warned that sex-ed was designed for children to “learn to be homosexuals and lesbians” and said gay and lesbian people had “an insatiable appetite for sex, especially with young people.”

He also called Islam a “war machine” in a social-media post in 2016 and has said that Muslims had a mandate from their religion for a “hostile takeover.”

During the debate over his university-status application, ex-premier Kathleen Wynne called Mr. McVety “the most publicly and vocally homophobic man in Ontario.”

 

[DSC]

From October, 2023...

Ford minister assured evangelical school it could get university status regardless of board review​

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-charles-mcvety-toronto-christian-college/

Not quite sure if this topic fits here, and the whole 'carry-on' with McVety and his 'university' was discussed in the Premier Ford thread a while ago, but it IS yet another example of Ford and his 'cronies' appearing to pay little attention to the law!

 

[jje1000]

No sympathy for Montreal institutions from the CAQ government, and time to start moving from Ontario's end.

'Catastrophic' tuition plan is a 'direct attack' on English universities, McGill says

Changes “are far worse than those announced on Oct. 13 — worse for Quebec, worse for its universities, worse for Quebec businesses who need talent, and worse for McGill.”

montrealgazette.com

 

[lenaitch]

No sympathy for Montreal institutions from the CAQ government, and time to start moving from Ontario's end.

'Catastrophic' tuition plan is a 'direct attack' on English universities, McGill says

Changes “are far worse than those announced on Oct. 13 — worse for Quebec, worse for its universities, worse for Quebec businesses who need talent, and worse for McGill.”

montrealgazette.com

The CAQ, BQ and PQ all view keeping Anglos out of the province as a feature not a bug.

From the article:

• Require 80 per cent of students from outside Quebec studying in the province to reach an intermediate level of French by the time they graduate, as of fall 2025. There are currently no French requirements in Quebec universities.

I wonder what happens if they don't?