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Category: Government

Beyond the Student Choice Initiative

Last Thursday, the Ontario Superior Court struck down the Ford Government’s “Student Choice Initiative”, a program of voluntary student-unionism (VSU) it imposed last January (see here for a refresher).  The court decision is here.  It’s a full defeat for the provincial government, the policy is declared void, but it’s unclear if and how student organizations will be compensated for lost revenue from the fall term. A lot of people are arguing this is a victory for student unions and for the cause of

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November 27, 2019 No Comments

Big News on Free Speech

Cast your mind back oh, about fifteen months, to the Dawn of a New Era on Ontario campuses.  One in which Speech Would Be Free.  The Ford Government was new and fresh and so was the ink on a proclamation requiring all Ontario institutions to adopt a policy on free speech, consistent with the University of Chicago Statement of Principles on Free Expression, by January 1, 2019. The government charged the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) with oversight of the

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November 6, 2019 2 Comments

Scandinavian Round-Up

Every once in awhile it’s useful to take a look at how things are developing in other parts of the world.  Today, a quick trip to the three Scandinavian countries.  Norway is by some distance the most affluent of the Scandinavian countries, thanks to a few bazillion barrels of offshore oil.  But as the price of oil tumbles, financial pressures are appearing.  A wave of institutional mergers – touted not as a cost-saving measure but as a means to strengthen institutions

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November 5, 2019 No Comments

The 2019 Election: A Final View

Ok, everyone.  We’re at the finish line.  Among the things we’ve looked at in preparation for this day are: A history of Canadian PSE through election manifestos. A summation of the Liberal record on PSE, skills and science. A comparison of the Trudeau and Harper records on PSE, skills and science. A summary of the 2019 Green, New Democrat, Conservative, and Liberal plans on PSE, skills and science. Two quick updates on things announced.  First, the Greens.  After my piece on the Greens, leader Elizabeth

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October 21, 2019 1 Comment

2019 PSE Platforms-NDP

One of the tricky things about evaluating platforms in this election is that there is no way for anyone to know when a party is “done” with its announcements. They all get the PBO to cost bits of their platform, and that’s great. They can even, as the NDP has done, release a set of “commitments” (uncosted) and a vague “fiscal plan” (which basically says the party is going to stick to the Liberal formula of decreasing the deficit over

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October 7, 2019 No Comments
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One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

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