Jonathan Malloy, Bell Chair in Canadian Parliamentary Democracy at Carleton University, wrote an article in the Globe and Mail that criticizes the Government of Ontario’s funding policies. Malloy compares the strategies being used by ON to those used by Dollarama, in which the focus is placed on driving costs per unit down instead of offering a unique or exclusive final “product.” ON has “throttled revenue at both ends” by freezing provincial funding and tuition, argues Malloy, which in turn has pushed colleges and universities to accept more students at the lowest cost possible, opt for cheaper but less effective learning approaches, and optimize alternative revenue sources such as international student enrolment. Malloy concludes by asserting that ON already has an alternative to the “Dollarama model” available to it that was outlined in the 2023 blue-ribbon report.
