Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie Melanie Joly rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 5, 2019. The federal and Ontario governments have reached a deal on funding a new French-language university in Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Republished January 22, 2020 - 3:06 PM
Original Publication Date January 22, 2020 - 9:16 AM
OTTAWA - The federal and Ontario governments have reached a deal on funding a new French-language university in Toronto.
An agreement signed Wednesday says the two will spend $126 million on the project over eight years. The federal government will fund the university's startup costs for the first four years, then share expenses with Ontario starting in the fifth.
After eight years, the province is to take over funding the university in the same way as it does other public post-secondary institutions.
Federal Official Languages Minister Melanie Joly called it a historic day for Canadian francophones.
"I want to thank my provincial colleagues for reversing their initial decision to abolish the university project at the beginning," Joly said. The agreement was reached only after difficult negotiations, she added.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, her Ontario counterpart Caroline Mulroney said she's "delighted" to "deliver on this important promise" a year-and-a-half after her Progressive Conservatives won power.
"It's a longstanding wish of Ontario's francophone community to have a university governed for francophones, by francophones," she said in French.
Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives cancelled the previous Liberal government's plans for a French-language university shortly after winning the Ontario election in 2018 but backtracked after an uproar among Ontario's francophones.
The Tories changed their minds shortly before the federal election campaign began last fall and began negotiating for financial support from the federal government.
Mulroney said the Ontario government just put the project "on hold" while it cleaned up provincial finances.
"Of course there was a federal election, but for us it was really about doing the work inside the government and to examine all the issues," she said.
In a statement, the Assemblee de la francophonie de l'Ontario said it's happy to see funding for the new university secured and that the institution can begin hiring staff.
The university expects to start teaching students in 2021, beginning with diploma programs delivered in partnerships with other schools. The stated plan is to expand to 1,500 students by the school year beginning in 2026, with programs up to the master's-degree level.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2020.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2020