University of Western Ontario Staff Association

The Ontario Budget, tabled by the McGuinty Government on March 26, contained few surprises in those provisions related to University funding. But there is some good news for staff at Western and other Universities.

While there was no increase in government grants to Universities, neither was there a decrease. Western is, with regard to base government funding, in exactly the same place the Administration could and should have expected it to be before the recession. This is good news and UWOSA applauds the Government for resisting any temptation to reduce funding. Any hope of increased base funding was likely unrealistic.

There is some new money for the operating budget, though. The Budget contains $150M in one-time funding for post-secondary institutions. It is not clear, from the information available, precisely how much of this money will flow to Western. We also do not know what the Administration's priorities for this funding will be. It is UWOSA's position that, in the absence of specific and binding direction from the Ministry to the contrary, all of this money should - and must - be used to save jobs.

There is also significant money for infrastructure, which will help Western and other Universities continue with construction and renovation plans. While this is useful and important, it does not provide any direct support to operating budgets. However, in UWOSA's view, Western should use increased support for the capital budget to reallocate resources to the operating budget wherever it is possible to do so.

In general, with regard to those provisions directly related to Universities, UWOSA is not displeased with the Budget. It does not appear to contain any reduction in funding, and does provide some modest assistance to Universities. The task, now, is to ensure this money is used to save jobs. Not only will this help those whose jobs are saved, but also the larger London community. Reducing or eliminating layoffs will also ensure that the level of service to students is not dramatically reduced.

The complete budget and a summary document for postsecondary education are available on the Ministry of Finance website.