London West MPP Peggy Sattler (middle), who is the Ontario NDP’s shadow minister for college and universities, attended a town hall in Peterborough on May 29, 2026 hosted by the Peterborough-Kawartha NDP Riding Association and emceed by association president Morgan Carl (far right). Also pictured are Trent University student and president of the Peterborough-Kawartha Youth NDP Ace Martin-Graham (far left), former Fleming College library technician Carmen Gelette (second from left), and Trent University Faculty Association president and librarian Dwayne Collin (second from right). (Photo courtesy of Peterborough-Kawartha NDP Riding Association) For the Ontario NDP, cuts to funding for colleges and universities show not only a lack of appreciation for education but also a strategy by the Ford government to shift towards privatization of public systems, pushing costs onto students. Peggy Sattler – MPP for London West, shadow minister responsible for colleges, universities, research excellence and security, as well as chief opposition whip – visited the new OPSEU Peterborough regional office at 69 George Street North on Friday night (May 29) as part of her series of town halls focused on universities and colleges. “We’re very concerned about the creeping privatization that we see within the post-secondary sector,” Sattler told kawartha NOW on Friday. – content continues below
MPP Sattler: Ford government continuing underfunding initiated by previous Liberal government
Sattler was joined on stage by Ace Martin-Graham, a Trent University student who serves as president of the Peterborough-Kawartha Youth NDP; Dwayne Collins, president of the Trent University Faculty Association and librarian; and Carmen Gelette, a former library technician at Fleming College’s Sutherland Campus in Peterborough. The event was organized by the Peterborough-Kawartha NDP Riding Association with Morgan Carl acting as emcee. It brought together labor union leaders, frontline workers, students, and other interested parties to discuss issues facing Ontario’s post-secondary education system and how the Ontario NDP plans to tackle these challenges. Sattler opened with an overview of what she termed “chronic underfunding” affecting post-secondary institutions not just under Ford’s leadership but also during Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government from 2013 to 2018. “It was under the Liberals we first saw that change,” said Sattler. In 2013, Ontario had both the highest tuition fees for students and lowest per-student funding compared to all other provinces in Canada. According to Sattler, this situation remains largely unchanged in 2026 with Ontario ranking second-to-last in terms of affordable tuition costs. Sattler believes that post-secondary education is now more publicly assisted than publicly funded because “the proportion of revenues that they (students) got from the government was low and declining.” Sattler pointed out that reduced public funding has been accompanied by pressure on post-secondary institutions to pursue entrepreneurial activities like contract training and private-public partnerships through initiatives such as the province’s Skills Development Fund. During a question-and-answer segment at the event, Will Dowkes-president of OPSEU Local 365 at Trent University-also noted an uptick in private-public partnerships. “There have been instances where college locations closed in northern communities on a Friday only for a private partnership to open up by Monday,” said Dowkes. This situation recently occurred in Thunder Bay when Confederation College shut down its Culinary Management program. Sattler views this trend as indicative of “the Ford government’s complete disregard for recognizing how valuable post-secondary education is for skill development and citizenship cultivation.” <p Afterwards speaking with kawartha NOW following her remarks at the event, Sattler emphasized that she sees Skills Development Fund as “the most viable example” demonstrating increased privatization within public systems under Ford’s administration. “The Skills Development Fund is shifting public dollars away from investing in colleges and universities into funding private training,” she explained. Both panellists along with attendees expressed worries over educational privatization since it clashes sharply with foundational values behind public colleges and universities. “Because education is more than just creating workers,” said Gelette. “Colleges were meant to nurture whole local economies-not just produce workers suited for whichever sector gets political favor at any given time.” Gelette highlighted numerous students passionate about areas like arts, culture or Indigenous studies who deserve chances to chase their dreams.”Source linkTITLE REWRITING – MANDATORY: – You MUST rewrite it differently. – Keep it short. – Make it sound natural. CRITICAL RULES FOR CONTENT: 1. Keep EXACT same paragraph breaks. 2. Keep EXACT same HTML structure. 3. Keep ALL links exactly as they are. 4. Keep ALL formatting exactly as it is. 5. ONLY change words/sentences. 6. Do NOT combine paragraphs into one big block. 7. Each paragraph stays separate. 8. NEVER CHANGE TEXT INSIDE QUOTATION MARKS. 9. Quotes must remain unchanged. 10. DO NOT add any inline styles or backgrounds. 11. Text color must be default black – no colored text or backgrounds allowed. 12. Remove all style attributes from HTML tags. 13. OUTPUT MUST BE VALID HTML WITH PROPER SPACING AND FORMATTING 14. NEVER remove spaces between words 15. NEVER output garbled text without spaces 16. Remove any strange characters appearing within text 17. Use standard punctuation only. WORDS/PHRASES TO AVOID: Same list applies. OUTPUT FORMAT: TITLE: [NEW rewritten title] CONTENT: [rewritten content]
