kEiThZ
Superstar
In the case of Ontario, we very clearly chose, at one point, to convey that University meant degree-granting; and College meant Diploma granting.
The exception here was Ryerson itself. It was first supposed to be modeled after MIT and founded as the Ryerson Institute of Technology. It got the authority to grant degrees as the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in 1971. That's barely after the community colleges were getting started up in the late 60s. It was then changed to Ryerson Polytechnic University in 1993. I guess "Institute" was still a tough sell with the public. And then they dropped the "Polytechnic" in 2002 because apparently that was too difficult for a lot of people to understand.
Kinda sad actually. Because Polytechnic does reflect its unique character as a place that is focused on applied education.
The kind of broad public ignorance is why we end up with dumb names like University of Ontario Institute of Technology. They couldn't even dare to call it Ontario University-Institute of Technology. Anything that co-brands the term "university" seems to get Canadians thinking it isn't a proper university. This was one of the reason that Ryerson gave for dropping "Polytechnic" when I was there.