Threats to a strong Canada? Universities are also a national emergency

The federal government is set to deliver its fall budget with a promised focus on building a strong Canada while positioning the country for long-term prosperity.

Among the major nation-building projects being championed are fighter jets and nuclear submarines, high speed rail, ice-breakers, ports, mines, roads, pipelines and more.

However, one critical sector is conspicuously under-represented: post-secondary education.

Once regarded as deserving of federal funding and a key player in our national interest, support has slowly dwindled .

However, Canada’s nation-building vision must include a focus on nurturing the current and next generation of thinkers, workers, innovators and dreamers.

A new collection of essays we’ve edited, Knowledge Under Siege: Charting a Future for Universities , examines the purpose of universities and how they can best seek truth, make discoveries and pass on work skills, knowledge and wisdom — as well as fulfil their unique responsibility of asking difficult questions of governments, other power structures and society itself.

This critical function, we note, distinguishes our universities from their counterparts in illiberal states.

Universities across the globe , including in Canada , are increasingly under threat , partly due to a growing and volatile anti-intellectual and authoritarian climate.

Drop in spending on education The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) notes that in the early 1970s, funding for post-secondary education represented more than 3.5 per cent of all federal government spending.

By 2024, it had fallen to just 1.9 per cent.

Students have been carrying a growing funding burden since, with average student-funded revenue growing from $3,140 in 1990 to a whopping $12,890 by 2024.

CCPA also reports the total expenses required for a year of undergraduate study have nearly doubled from $13,500 in 2004-05 to $22,200 in 2022-23.

It’s no exaggeration to say this creates an inter-generational theft of opportunity.

Students graduate with significant debt related to post-secondary studies, doing real harm to their ability to pursue their goals and dreams and to participate in the economy and society.