Calls for law to save universities from Laurentian’s fate

Canada needs new legislation to save universities from the same fate as Laurentian University, argues the Canadian Association of University Teachers, reports CBC News.

In February 2021, the Sudbury, Ontario university filed for insolvency under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), legislation designed for commercial enterprises. That decision ultimately cost 195 people their jobs after Laurentian cut 76 programmes. It also affected the career plans of an estimated 932 students, according to Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk. In a report on Laurentian, which Lysyk submitted to the Ontario Legislature on 17 November, she argued the university could have avoided the CCAA to dig itself out of its financial troubles by working on a plan with the province and its staff and faculty unions. “There is a strong argument that CCAA is an inappropriate, and perhaps damaging, remedy for public entities,” Lysyk wrote.

David Robinson, the executive director with the Canadian Association of University Teachers, is calling on the federal government to amend the CCAA, to ensure it can no longer be applied to publicly funded universities. This follows a report tabled by the association, which arrived at the same conclusions as the auditor general – that the CCAA should never have been used for a public university.
Full report on the CBC News site