Dawson College to suspend renovations, purchases in wake of government cuts

Source: https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/dawson-college-to-suspend-renovations-purchases-in-wake-of-government-cuts

Dawson College says provincial funding cuts are forcing it to suspend all new renovation projects, cancel planned purchases of needed equipment and to stop buying goods for its library.

Quebec’s largest English-language CEGEP said it had budgeted more than $13 million for renovations and equipment purchases during the 2024-25 fiscal year, but that the provincial government informed the school at the end of July — after that spending had been approved by its board — that it would only have access to about half that amount.

Diane Gauvin, director-general of Dawson College, said that about a month before the school was notified it would have only $6.6 million to spend on infrastructure and equipment, the provincial government had said it would have access to almost $35 million.

“The timing could not have been worse. In one month, we essentially lost the ability to spend about $28 million,” she said in an interview Friday. “It’s a huge amount of money, it is shocking.”

The retroactive cuts came after the school already spent more than now it has access to, Gauvin said, adding that Dawson does most of its renovations during the summer, when students aren’t around.

“You can’t tell us July 31st that this completely changes everything. We don’t even have $500 to buy a computer,” she said.

Dawson won’t be able to fix roofs that have water infiltration or buy equipment for programs, like computer science and 3D animation, whose requirements have been changed by the government, she said.

The province, which has imposed infrastructure spending caps across the CEGEP system — and is imposing similar caps on universities — says CEGEPs are spending too much on renovations and that its goal is sensible financial management.

But CEGEPs say the caps, announced after the beginning of their fiscal years, come as the schools are already struggling to maintain their buildings.

Gauvin said the spending cap puts renovations planned for next year at risk and that if the school’s facilities, including a heritage building, aren’t properly maintained, they’ll deteriorate, which could significantly increase the cost of repairs.

While the cuts aren’t specific to English-language schools, it’s another blow to Dawson, which had a planned expansion of its medical technology department cancelled by the government in 2022 — with funding redirected to French-language institutions — and like other English-language CEGEPs, is dealing with an enrollment cap and new French-language instruction requirements.

“I can say that the Dawson community is bruised from all of the decisions that have been made by the Quebec government since 2021,” Gauvin said.

Kenneth Clarence Oledan, the president of the Dawson Student Union, said it’s unfortunate the government didn’t seek student input.

“It’s frustrating to know that choices impacting our education are being made without considering our voices, even though we’re the ones who will be most affected,” he said. “Society always tells us that we’re the future, but how can we truly ensure a bright future for this province when the government doesn’t invest in us?”

He said the suspension of equipment purchases and renovations will affect the education students receive and their ability to succeed. For example, he said that last summer, classrooms got too hot due to an air conditioning issue, forcing some classes to end early while others were moved outside.

With around 10,000 students, the school’s buildings feel cramped, he said.

“Many students arrive late to class simply because it takes so long to navigate these crowded escalators and stairs,” he said. “So I don’t really know how the government can expect us to effectively learn and thrive in an academic environment like this.”

The union representing teachers at Dawson College said it expects the consequences of the cuts to be “dire” for teachers and students.

“Before the cuts were announced, some of our teachers were already working in spaces with temporary walls and technology that does not meet the needs of what are meant to be cutting-edge programs. These cuts will only exacerbate the current challenges in providing a quality learning environment and a conducive workplace for our teachers,” the Dawson Teachers’ Union executive said in a statement.

At John Abbott College, director-general Teresa Berghello said the school is evaluating how the spending cap will affect it.

“We’ve slowed our work and paused adding any new project until we have more clarity,” she said, adding that the college wants to know how the government came up with the caps for each school, so it can predict how much it will be able to spend in the future.

Many of the school’s buildings are older and require maintenance and upgrading, and while she said she understands the government is facing financial constraints, announcing a retroactive cap without consultation “really complicates our ability to manage our budgets, both short- and long-term, so we can make sure we meet these needs.”

John Abbott’s budget had been approved by its board at the end of the last academic year and it was in the midst of a new fiscal year when the cap was announced.

“The timing is absolutely terrible,” Berghello said.

Andrew MacKay, the interim director-general of Vanier College, said it was unacceptable for the government to make a surprise announcement about funding caps over the summer.

“The imposed spending cap will have direct consequences for students and will result in additional costs and delays for crucial work that needs to be completed,” he said in a statement.

In May, Quebec’s auditor general said two-thirds of the buildings owned by Quebec CEGEPs are in poor shape — that’s up from a quarter five years ago — and that the $608 million budgeted for maintenance between now and 2027-28 is more than $1 billion short of what’s needed.

On Thursday, Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry defended the cuts, saying the cost of CEGEP projects had “exploded” over the past few months.

In a statement, Déry’s office told The Gazette the government will be flexible, so that schools can honour contracts they’ve already made and that it will work with CEGEPs to help them prioritize their projects.

The minister’s office said that since 2019, spending on CEGEPs in Quebec’s infrastructure plan has risen by 55.7 per cent.