The news this week that the province has offered to purchase $53.5-million worth of Laurentian University assets as the insolvent university attempts to come up with funds to pay out its creditors is being condemned by the Tricultural Committee for University Education at Sudbury.
“This entire process has been a bonanza for the corporate sector at the expense of taxpayers,” said the statement from the Tricultural committee.
“[The] announcement of $53.5 million is in addition to last December’s announcement of $35 million plus an additional commitment of $22 million in funding – that’s a total of $110.5 million, most of which will end up in the pockets of lawyers, consultants and banks.
“The latest election ‘payola’ of $53 million doesn’t change that. The Ford government still supports sending Laurentian through the disastrous CCAA insolvency process – a first for a Canadian university.
“The $53 million is to be used to buy public property we already own, though not necessarily endowed green spaces or the Art Gallery of Sudbury and its collection. Programs, faculty, and staff will not be restored by it.
“Laurentian, once the largest university in Northern Ontario, will be a pale corporate shadow of the full public university we deserve.”
The Tricultural committee said there was one positive result of the cabinet’s interventions: they have blown away the pretense that the province could do or say nothing during the CCAA process.
The group also said that the Conservative government under Doug Ford is doing major damage to Northern Ontario – in education, culture, science, and the economy – by their mishandling of the insolvency crisis at Laurentian University.
“They don’t deserve our votes,” the statement said.
“The Conservative government knew of the serious financial problem at Laurentian and vulnerabilities in the Northern universities.
“It could have taken direct action, but instead it allowed Laurentian to unleash the CCAA corporate insolvency process – in the middle of a pandemic.
“As the massive cuts to Laurentian became known across the province and around the world – over 60 programs and 200 faculty and staff were slashed – the province could have stepped in to end the CCAA process. It could have worked directly to refinance the university and deal with creditors.
“It could have spared loss and disruption to the futures of hundreds of students. Yet Mr Ford’s cabinet took no action.”
The Tricultural committee was formed in response to Laurentian’s insolvency and filing for creditor protection and restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (or CCAA).
The group “aims to build bridges between communities affected by the cuts to programs and positions at Laurentian, and to support them in their efforts to re-establish a consistent university offering that meets the needs of their community.”
