Update on Doug Ford’s Cancellation of Milton University Campus
Published October 31, 2018 at 6:37 pm
A lot of people were shocked following the Doug Ford government’s recent decision to
A lot of people were shocked following the Doug Ford government’s recent decision to cancel funding for major university expansions in Halton, Peel, and Markham.
Now, other political leaders are speaking out and sharing their thoughts.
According to a recent NDP press release, NDP Official Opposition Deputy Leader Sara Singh (Brampton Centre), Gurratan Singh (Brampton East) and Kevin Yarde (Brampton North) said that Conservative MPPs in the GTA have a lot of questions to answer following their vote against the motion that would restore cancelled funding for post-secondary campuses in Brampton, Milton and Markham.
On Oct. 29, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath tabled a motion to undo Ford’s cut.
At this motion Horwath called for funding to be restored instantly.
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Conservative MPPs Logan Kanapathi (Markham—Thornhill), Bill Pang (Markham—Unionville), Parm Gill (Milton), Prabmeet Sarkaria (Brampton South) and Amarjot Sandhu (Brampton West) didn’t show up to Horwath’s motion, or did not speak on behalf of their communities. They also did not vote.
“The Ford Conservatives had an opportunity to undo the damage Mr. Ford caused by callously cancelling long awaited funding to build university campuses in Brampton, Milton and Markham,” Sara said in a recent press release.
“New Democrats called on all MPPs to come together, and vote together to restore the funding for these three universities.”
Sara followed-up on this during a question period on Oct. 30. She asked why the Conservatives appear to not believe that communities in the GTA are worth the investment.
“Instead of restoring the hope of thousands of young people and their families, the Conservative MPPs elected to stand up for these communities didn’t even bother to show up. Given the choice between the families they’re here to serve, and their blind loyalty to Doug Ford, they chose Ford,” Sara said in a recent press release.
Yarde followed-up by saying:
“Thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in economic activity were within reach for Brampton, Milton and Markham,” Yarde said in a recent press release.
“For Doug Ford to snatch that away not only hurts students – it rips up the blueprint these communities painstakingly put together for how they were going to create jobs closer to home, and ensure smart economic growth and development kept up with population growth in these areas.”
“Until there are students in classrooms, New Democrats will continue to fight for families in Brampton, Milton and Markham.”
InHalton.com reached out to the Conservative MPPs, Parm Gill’s executive assistant has so far been the only response InHalton.com has received.
The assistant responded by explaining that the following open letter was issued to Milton residents regarding the funding cancellations.
Dear fellow Miltonians,
Our Government has now announced a pause to the Post-Secondary Campus in Milton.
During the last campaign I, along with my PC colleagues, promised the people of Ontario that if elected, we would restore accountability and trust in Ontario’s finances. We now know, thanks to the Independent Commission of Inquiry, the depths of the waste and mismanagement of the previous Liberal Government. To describe the previous Government’s actions, the Auditor General used words like ‘conceal’, ‘bogus’, ‘deceptive’ and ‘unreliable.’
Our Government is now being forced to clean up the irresponsible and reckless financial decisions of the previous Liberal Government.
“In an election year, they made empty promises to Ontarians for programs and projects they knew they could not afford leading to a $15 billion deficit, while hiding the cost from the public.”
The previous Liberal Government was in office when the initial MOU between Laurier University and the Town of Milton was signed in 2008. That Government made empty promises including just weeks before the last election in a clear effort to buy votes in Milton, nearly 10 years later.
Since taking office in June, I have been meeting with stakeholders of the campus will continue to work with them to in order to create a well-planned, sustainable proposal that is in the best interest of Milton.
Sincerely,
Parm Gill
MPP Milton
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