READ NOW: Dismantling Public Futures: Diverting training money from Ontario colleges through Ford’s Skills Development Fund endangers the provincial economy.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, ON – On the eve before a major strike deadline, the union representing over 50,000 college workers across every campus in Ontario released a bombshell report today aimed at a central question: if our public college system hemorrhaging jobs while shutting down hundreds upon hundreds of programs, then where are our public dollars going?
The answer, OPSEU/SEFPO contends, is a government-led agenda to systematically defund Ontario colleges, while committing $2.5 billion in public dollars since 2020 to Ontario’s “Skills Development Fund,” a provincial funding envelope designed to cultivate non-college training programs.
Originally a joint provincial-federal program to support workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the SDF quickly evolved into an incubator for privatized post-secondary training. Unlike public colleges, which are subject to strict reporting and disclosure requirements, almost no public information is available about who gets SDF funding, what the funding is for, and any project-level or annual outcomes – particularly alarming amidst a steady stream of multi-million dollar funding award announcements.
“We know colleges have a proven track record in helping launch careers – college graduates have the lowest unemployment of any education outcome in the province,” said JP Hornick, President of OPSEU/SEFPO. “But as to what this $2.5 billion black box actually accomplishes? Everyone is in the dark. Taxpayers have almost no information about how many Ontarians have gained and retained jobs in their field through the SDF program, now in its sixth year.”
On an annual basis, funding for SDF projects has increased 800% since the beginning of the pandemic – annual funding for the SDF now exceeds the college operating funding gap identified by the Ford government’s own assembled Blue Ribbon Panel of experts.
The difference, OPSEU/SEFPO says, is that colleges serve local communities, particularly in northern and more rural regions – whereas more than half of projects receiving SDF funding in 2025 went to recipients in the resource-rich GTA.
“These compressed programs don’t equip students with a recognized credential that would make them broadly employable. This is about student horizons,” added Hornick. “Are you being trained for the job ‘right now’, or do you get an education that opens doors to a range of future opportunities? How many people undergoing these private trainings become dependent on a localized employer – or end up needing proper accreditation at a college down the line?”
The new report draws parallels to a strikingly similar model which failed spectacularly in Australia, leaving taxpayers footing the bill. Between 2013 and 2018, the Australian government cut over $3 billion in public funding for its college system and required public institutions to compete with private training providers for funding.
“Australia is just emerging from a disastrous decade-long experiment with privatized publicly-subsidized vocational education,” said Jim Stanford, Economist and Director with the Centre for Future Work, who has studied the Australian system. “The government channeled billions to private for-profit providers, many of them fly-by-night operations with no track record and no genuine teaching infrastructure. Billions were wasted, and the hopes of many students who were misled into enrolling were crushed. The Australian government is now pivoting back quickly to public institutions (the TAFE colleges) as the mainstay of vocational education. Ontario should heed the Australian experience, and quickly restore both funding and focus to public colleges as the central vehicle for delivering quality vocational training.”
“We know that Australia is the blueprint. Shortly before Ford was first elected, his team was already being lobbied by Ontario 360, a Toronto-based policy think tank funded by the Weston Family Foundation, to ‘adopt aspects of Australia’s model for more proactive employer engagement,’” added Hornick. “Yet already in 2018, Australia began to reverse course to restore public funding to its college sector after a nightmarish debt crisis. We already know how this story ends – so why are we repeating the same mistake?”
The union says that students and workers in our communities have already borne the brunt of one failed experiment, tying public education to international tuition instead of provincial funding – and deserve better than more expensive experiments that waste taxpayer money and resources for short-term political objectives.
Hornick notes that Ontario colleges train 500,000 students and graduate over 125,000 job-ready workers every year. With over 700,000 skilled tradespeople set to retire in the next 5 years, it’s unlikely that the labour shortages can be closed without a robust college ecosystem.
“If this was really about community-based job outcomes, we’d be investing in proven college programs and restoring opportunities in our communities. But we’re seeing SDF investments pour into particular ridings and sectors – several of which went on to elect Conservative representatives for the first time in generations.”
“This isn’t even a partisan issue – no government should be able to spend taxpayer money without public oversight,” added Hornick. “That money belongs to our communities: to invest in our children, in opportunities and futures for them in our own backyard. If that money is being used to shore up votes or endorsements, the Ford government is going to have to answer for it.”
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For more information, please contact:
OPSEU/SEFPO Communications
opseucommunications@opseu.org