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Ontarios Liberal government is undermining Ontario’s public university system by letting a private college grant university degrees, CUPE Ontario says.

A Toronto-area technology college has announced that the Ontario government will allow it to grant bachelor degrees.

CUPE Ontario Secretary-Treasurer Brian OKeefe said the decision was profoundly disappointing.

“Premier McGuinty is following in the footsteps of the Tory government, which ignored the dire need for investment in our public universities in favour of private institutions.”

Privatization, including corporate sponsorship of buildings and academic programs, is already running rampant on Ontario campuses, which are in a serious state of deterioration, said Janice
Folk-Dawson, chair of the CUPE Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee.

Estimates are that the province must invest an additional $861 million annually to bring Ontario up to the national average for university funding.

“McGuinty should be making commitments to invest that money so that every qualified student can find a place in a public university,” O’Keefe said.