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just as the settlement betweenYork University administration and CUPE Local 3903 ends a 75-day strike, a new report puts Ontario at the bottom of the list when it comes to funding higher education.The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives notes that Ontario, which was last in its provincial rankings last year as well, underwent further tuition increases and creeping privatization. The province ranked last in accountability and quality, seventh in accessibility and sixth in equity for an overall last-place showing.
British Columbia ranked at the top of the heap.
“(Ontario) is pulling out of funding, abdicating its responsibilities, and students are forced to make up increasingly large amounts of the costs of their education,” says Erika Shaker, director of the CCPA education project.
The ministry, however, counters with the fact that the annual Macleans poll ranks Ontario universities among the best in the country.
Says education ministry spokesperson Dave Ross,”We don’t believe their claim that we don’t have a strong commitment.”SA