Visual credit: Élodie Ah-Wong- Artistic director
Article written by Sandra Uhlrich – journalist
The 2025 law on support for children, students and studentscalled Bill 33 (PL 33), is available in three components: children’s services, school councils and schools, as well as colleges and universities. Tabled last June by the Ontario government, certain measures of this bill are criticized by The Ontario section of the Canadian Student Federation (FCE) as well as by the Student Union of the University of Ottawa (Séuo).
For post -secondary institutions, the bill requires the implementation of a research security plan, also gives more ministerial control over the application of auxiliary costs, and wishes to review the admission criteria for post -secondary establishments, ensuring that the evaluation is based on the merit of each candidate.
Between complexity and imprecision
Reading the bill, many details seem to be missing, making it difficult to understand its ends and impacts. Cyrielle Ngeleka, president of the Ontario section of the Canadian Student Federation (FCE), worries about the vagueness that the government maintains, fearing that this will give it excessive freedom of action.
MP Lucille Collard, elected in the district of Ottawa-Vanier (where the University of Ottawa is located), explains: “There are many things that are not prescribed in the bill. They will be determined in regulations, which will remain to be seen once the bill is adopted. This implies an intervention power on the part of the almost zero legislative assembly on these regulations.
With regard to the revision of admission criteria, the definition of deserved is not specified in the text. However, this imprecise language could directly affect the admission conditions for minority and racialized students in fact, several of them. They benefit from equity programs, which could be called upon to disappear out of fear of non-compliance with this new law.
The claim commissioner of the Student Union of the University of Ottawa (Séuo), Alex Stratas, worries of what could happen to Exemption from tuition fees For students from the Algonquin nations, set up last spring. She hopes that this step towards reconciliation will not be questioned because of the PL 33.
“This is another aspect of the law that weakens the capacity of our post -secondary institutions to meet the needs of students, so as to respect the equity and identity of each.”
New attack on the education system
The sources consulted by the round Make a unanimous observation: the government seeks to obtain more control over post -secondary institutions without providing them with additional resources, which are however more than necessary. Collard insists that our education system is an important milestone in our society, and that it should “be funded priority”.
Section 21.1 particularly worries the community of student governance. Through this article, the government would reserve the right to decide which Fresh accessories could be requested or not. For Ngeleka, the government is trying to diversion: “The government is trying to blame these related costs for the high cost of education. But in the end, we know that these are tuition fees, and not the related costs [qui constituent la charge financière principale]. »
Stratas insists on the direct impact that this additional loss of funding would have on university culture as a whole, and on the emergency services offered by the student union. It raises that students are already a vulnerable population and that any reduction in mental health services, food bank or Emergency aid would be disastrous.
In addition, she is concerned about the emergence of an increasing devaluation of education in Canada, similar to this reality currently observable in the United States. She quotes the example of Trump’s rhetoric which claims that universities radicalize individuals. As reported by Radio-Canada in a Article published on May 30, 2025the Ontario Minister of Education, Mr. Calandra, would have mentioned, during a press conference, to want to “take out the school policy”. He also denounced “school advisers who try to” mediate world conflicts “and who” rewrite the curriculums “in order to make schools” a political battlefield “”.
Stratas and the seuo, for their part, remain realistic: “This law has every chance of passing, and probably cannot be stopped”. Indeed, the Ford government has a majority of seats in the provincial assembly. They still put pressure so that at least section 21.1 of the bill is reviewed. The Séuo invites all the students of the U of O. to rally, in particular by participating in email avalanche addressed to the Ford government.
Collard assures, on the other hand, that her caucus will continue to put pressure on the government, but she invites the education community as a whole to mobilize: “We will have to ensure that they are transmitted a very clear message and that people manifest themselves, because the government will not change its idea if it does not feel public pressure. »»
