Student visa plan indescribably dumb
Re: Ottawa announces twoyear cap on international student admissions,jan. 22.
Some time back, the Doug Ford government looked around at the college system and became quite concerned. Colleges in Toronto were thriving, even adding campuses. Colleges in outlying areas were struggling. A huge part of the difference was that a lot of international students were coming to Canada, and Toronto was an appealing locale.
There were four obvious options. First, government officials could do nothing and watch the outlying colleges shrivel. Second, they could funnel many millions of additional taxpayers' money into them on an ongoing basis. Third, for millions of dollars, help them build a Toronto satellite campus. And fourth, they could find credible private colleges that would partner with them, and that would bear the brunt of cost and agree to be evaluated by the same criteria as the public colleges.
So off they went, bringing education to many, and revenue to both kinds of colleges. Not only that, of course, but also bringing millions of dollars into the local economy. And as part of the agreement, being evaluated by the same academic and other criteria. Fine.
Along comes the federal government. The Liberals are sinking like a stone in the polls and are portrayed as having done nothing about several important matters. So they do something indescribably stupid: they take action that distorts the reality of where international students go; will kill the best of the private colleges; critically wound the outlying public colleges; and toss away many millions of dollars from the local economy, while closing colleges and throwing many out of work.
Spare me the “puppy mills” nonsense. They are the problem of the Ford government. And spare me the prejudice against private education. Twenty-four of the 28 American universities on the global best 100 universities list are private universities. Time to grow up.
Ken Macqueen, Nepean, former president of Huntington University and Principal of Vancouver School of Theology