Ontario grant for a Stratford campus

Waterloo - A $10 million grant announced in yesterday’s Ontario budget is a big step towards making UW’s proposed campus in Stratford, a half-hour drive west of Waterloo, a reality.

UW president David Johnston and dean of arts Ken Coates were in the gallery at the Legislature yesterday afternoon, along with Stratford mayor Dan Mathieson, to hear provincial finance minister Dwight Duncan present his budget. The minister didn't speak of UW in the speech itself (though Mathieson got a mention in connection with a whole different matter, the Provincial-Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review).

But the printed budget, a much bigger document, included "$10 million in 2007-08 to the University of Waterloo at Stratford for a new digital media institute", among a list of college and university construction grants. Also among them: $9 million to the Ontario College of Art and Design, also for space for digital media.

A budget news release mentions the UW grant twice, under headings ("Building Places to Learn" and "Strengthening the Environment for Innovation") that sum up the themes of the Liberal government's budget. "The McGuinty government," it says, "is providing capital investments of $970 million over three years to build places where students learn."

A Stratford branch for UW is not a done deal, with many approvals still needed and additional funding to be found. But officials are bound to be happy today. They’ll hold a “milestone celebration event” at 7:00 tonight at Stratford’s historic city hall, with guests invited to enjoy nibbles and hear speakers. Among them: John Wilkinson, who is MPP for Perth-Wellington (the riding that includes Stratford) and also provincial minister of research and innovation. The faculty of arts has invited UW arts alumni to attend the event as well.

Yesterday's budget repeated a familiar boast: "Under the Reaching Higher Plan, the Ontario government is investing more than $6.2 billion in postsecondary education by 2009-10, improving quality, access and accountability. Grants for university and college operating costs increased by over 40 per cent between 2003-04 and 2007-08, supporting the hiring of new faculty, increasing student-faculty interaction, and improving student services and libraries."

Also promised in Duncan's budget: "$385 million over three years for a new Textbook and Technology Grant. It will help lower costs for every full-time college and university student annually, with grants of $150 per student this fall, $225 in the fall of 2009 and $300 in subsequent years . . . $27 million over three years for a new, annual Distance Grant to assist with transportation costs for students from rural and remote areas attending college or university . . . more than $16 million to enhance the successful Pathways to Education program and increase the number of at-risk youth finishing high school or proceeding to postsecondary education or directly to the workforce . . . more than $7 million over three years for an International Ontario Strategy to attract talented postsecondary students from around the world, raising the level of research excellence in Ontario's universities and contributing to economic prosperity."