University of Sudbury: Ottawa "shared his concerns" with Mulroney

University of Sudbury: Ottawa “shared his concerns” with Mulroney

Posted On: July 8, 2023

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The federal government would like to invite the Ford government to start talks now to find a solution to funding the University of Sudbury project after it announced last week that it would not fund it.

“I was very surprised by the announcement, especially at the end of the day on the eve of Canada Day,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Ginette Petitpas Taylor in an interview.

She says she has been in talks with both the Province and the leaders of the Francophone institution over the past few months and has never felt that such news would come her way.

The latter was in Vancouver this week with her provincial and territorial counterparts for the Canadian Francophony Council of Ministers (CFPC). She confirmed having raised the issue with the Minister for Francophone Affairs, Caroline Mulroney, who was present.

“I share the federal government’s concerns about the decision, but we cannot be alone,” she said.

While not wanting to reveal the nature of the discussions during that bilateral meeting, Ms Petitpas Taylor adds that she did not sense any closure on the part of Ms Mulroney on the file. The latter has still not commented on the situation and was not present at the closing press conference of the ministerial conference on Friday.

Ginette Petitpas Taylor argues that she wants to find a solution, recalling that her government has so far spent two of the five million dollars promised for the facility, at the request of Minister Jill Dunlop.

“The federal government will always be at the discussion table, but we cannot act alone here either. We’re ready, but we need him (Ontario) to come to the table.”

Minister for Official Languages Ginette Petitpas Taylor during an announcement at the University of Sudbury. Photo credit: Dominique Demers

Does she think the Ontario government sees this announcement as a strategy by the federal government to fund part of the project, as in the case of the Université de l’Ontario français (UOF)? “No, I didn’t feel that at all. »

In 2018, on French Ontario’s so-called Black Thursday, the Ford government buried the UOF project. It took until 2021 for the two tiers of government to reach an agreement to make the Toronto institution a reality. In particular, the agreement stipulates that the federal government will assume 100% of the costs (US$ 63 million) for the first four years.

“We made it clear in our action plan: We recognize the importance of supporting post-secondary institutions in minority settings. If we want to support the vitality of communities, we must support these institutions and we will continue to work with governments to support them.”

She’s not the only one who spoke to Ms Mulroney about the University of Sudbury. This also applies to Jean-François Roberge, Minister for Canadian Relations and Canadian Francophonie in Quebec.

“I’ve had the opportunity to speak with Minister Mulroney on a variety of issues including immigration, French speaking services and the support Quebec can offer to all French speaking communities across Canada… We are here to support communities as they increase their rights.” “Of course we respect the decisions of our colleagues from the state governments,” he commented at a press conference.

In a joint letter to the media, the Department for Colleges and Universities stated “that the University of Sudbury’s proposal, including the request for funding to establish a stand-alone French-language university, does not reflect current demand or enrollment trends”.

Even before the announcement, the federal government had always stated that it was open to an agreement with Ontario for this francophone settlement project in the northern part of the province.