Making up for lost foreign-student fees will produce a dividend that benefits both the economy and Ontario's young people
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Restricting the number of international students in colleges and universities has been big news in Ontario since last January, when the federal government finally brought some rationality to what had become a back-door immigration plan.
The federal change has major implications for the province, but nine months later, the Doug Ford government is still struggling to deliver a coherent response to the Liberal action, even though Ontario is where its greatest effects will be felt.
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In 2023, there were 526,000 foreign students in Ontario, just over half the Canadian total. The Liberal plan will slow the flow of foreign-student tuition to Ontario’s colleges and universities, significantly weakening the finances of Ontario’s underfunded post-secondary sector. It will also limit what had been an abundant supply of cheap student labour for fast-food restaurants and retailers.
It’s past time for the Ford government to tell Ontarians whether reducing the number of foreign students is good or bad for the province and whether the province is for or against the Liberal policy.
For years, the federal Liberals slept while a parallel immigration system expanded essentially without controls. Even students who signed up for a generic........