Ontario’s college system is facing what the province’s largest education union calls one of the most significant job losses in its history. The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) announced Wednesday that nearly 10,000 college faculty and staff positions have been eliminated or are at imminent risk following the suspension or cancellation of over 600 programs since last year.
Speaking outside Toronto’s Centennial College Story Arts Centre—one of the campuses slated to shut down—OPSEU President JP Hornick said the scope of cuts marks an unprecedented crisis. “This is bigger than the Hudson’s Bay liquidation, which laid off 8,000 employees across Canada,” Hornick noted, calling the situation “one of the largest mass layoffs in Ontario’s history.”
The union represents around 55,000 faculty and support staff across the province’s 24 publicly funded colleges. It pointed to a dramatic decline in international student enrolment, triggered by a federal cap introduced in early 2024, as a major factor in the financial downturn now rippling through the sector.
According to documents from a recent arbitration ruling, 23 colleges reported a 48 per cent drop in first-semester international student enrolment from September 2023 to September 2024. Nineteen colleges confirmed more than 8,000 job cuts—though OPSEU says that number could grow as not all institutions have reported their reductions.
Hornick emphasized that the cuts go beyond programs popular with international students. “These are also programs we domestically need—nursing, child and youth care, environmental technologies, even unique culinary training like the one in Thunder Bay, which supports food security in the North and has no alternative within a 1,000-kilometre radius,” she said.
The union further accused the Ontario government and college administrators of attempting to keep the extent of the damage under wraps. “They never intended to tell the public the full truth,” Hornick said. “Workers had to fight tooth and nail to get this information.”
The Ontario government dismissed the union’s claims. Bianca Giacoboni, spokesperson for Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn, said the accusations were “baseless and categorically false.” She cited more than $2 billion in new funding for colleges and universities in the past 14 months, in addition to the province’s regular $5 billion annual contribution. She placed the blame instead on “unilateral” federal changes to the international student system.
The College Employer Council (CEC), which represents Ontario’s publicly funded colleges, also pushed back. CEO Graham Lloyd stated that OPSEU had been informed of the severity of the situation as early as January 2024. “To suggest this information has been hidden from anyone is obviously wrong,” he said, noting that all colleges have designated union committees consulted on layoffs, program suspensions, and retirement packages.
Lloyd acknowledged the cuts are “unfortunate,” but said the 10,000 layoffs—representing about 17 per cent of a 60,000-strong workforce—are proportionate to the 45 per cent enrolment decline.
Centennial College, which OPSEU said had suspended more than 100 programs, disputed that figure, confirming that 54 programs were paused in 2025. The college cited sector-wide financial stress stemming from lower enrolment and a “broken funding model,” and said it is working with partners to address the challenges holistically.
As the legal and political debate unfolds, OPSEU warns the consequences could be generational, particularly in smaller communities that rely on local campuses for accessible education and job training. “We need strong colleges now more than ever,” said Hornick. “But instead, we are bleeding jobs.”