Scott Stinson: Spending scandal at Conestoga College is a reminder of Canada’s shameful international student boom

Yep:

…But the Liberals in Ottawa weren’t the only guilty party. The provinces did request an influx of potential workers during the pandemic, and then no one seemed to realize that the huge increases in foreign students in post-secondary institutions were not going to address those labour shortages, since they were largely in low-paying, unskilled jobs. The kind that didn’t require a college degree, in other words.

Indeed, the federal Auditor General issued a report this week that said immigration officials made little to no effort to investigate fraud within the student visa program, saying that they were overwhelmed by the large numbers.

More than 150,000 such cases were identified in 2023 and 2024 alone, with many of them flagged to the department because visa holders might not have been following the requirements of their study permits, as can happen when they do not attend classes, for example. A tiny fraction of those cases were even investigated, and in almost half of those that were, the student in question did not respond to inquiries from immigration officials. 

It is, in sum, a hot mess. 

Opposition politicians in Ontario sought to pin most of the blame this week on the Ford government, saying the Progressive Conservatives’ 2019 tuition freeze forced the post-secondary sector to look abroad for needed funds. “Now communities, workers, and students are dealing with the fallout while the government tries to act like this is all someone else’s fault,” said NDP MPP Catherine Fife, who represents Waterloo, after the Conestoga news was announced. “What did they think was going to happen?”  

It’s a fair question, but as was the case when the Ford government took over various public school boards after allegations of lavish expense mishaps, Conestoga College at this moment in time does not make a particularly sympathetic victim.

Mostly it stands as a symbol of a truly wild time in the post-secondary education sector in Ontario, when a lot of people who were supposed to be minding the store were doing the opposite.

And a time that a considerable number of politicians, at multiple levels, would rather we all forget.

Source: Scott Stinson: Spending scandal at Conestoga College is a reminder of Canada’s shameful international student boom