‘It’s time for a change’: Conestoga College union heads react to surplus, job cuts
Posted Aug 6, 2025 07:31:34 AM.
Last Updated Aug 6, 2025 10:31:49 AM.
Conestoga College continues to face backlash after reporting a more-than $121 million surplus in its annual financial report while continuing to cut jobs and programs.
“It’s disappointing and alarming,” said Vikki Poirier, president of OPSEU Local 238 representing support staff at the school. “This is deliberately underfunding and bad management choices, a loss of programs and services that are going to be a cost to our students.”
Those making the decisions at Conestoga College alleged that the school is facing significant strains on operations because of the federally imposed cap on international students and Canada’s declining popularity as an international education destination.
However, Poirier and other union leaders have pointed to the college’s president and board of governors as significant contributors to the college’s apparent decline.
The school’s president, John Tibbits, has held the top position for nearly four decades, but has been surrounded by controversy over the past couple of years, most recently after receiving a more-than 28 per cent pay bump in 2024.
“John (Tibbits) has done many great things, but I believe it is time for a change,” said Leopold Koff, president of OPSEU Local 237 representing faculty, librarians, and counsellors. “A good leader always looks at a plan for succession, and who’s going to take over next, and improve and bring new ideas in. I think we need that change.”
Poirier and Koff believe Ontario colleges have lost the way when it comes to priorities. They allege that bottom lines and finances have become more important than education and adding trained individuals to the province’s workforce.
“Public sector colleges are supposed to be about affordable, accessible education to make post-secondary education available in local communities, and to graduate students to be ready to contribute to local economies,” said Poirier.
In announcing the school’s annual financial report on Friday, Tibbits told staff that, since the fall semester of 2023, Conestoga College’s international student enrolment dropped by 20,000 people, equaling a financial loss of approximately $450 million. In its financial reporting, the tuition revenue decreased from about $682 million in 2024 to $563 million in 2025.
