Last week, the country watched as Kathleen Wynne became the first female premier of Ontario and first openly gay premier in Canada. While Ontarians wait to see which issue Wynne tackles first, many young people are hoping it’s post-secondary education.
Ontario students have seen the most dramatic increase in tuition fees, rising 370 per cent in the last six years. This means Ontario now has the highest undergrad tuition rate in the country, over $1,000 above second-highest Saskatchewan. And with overcrowding in schools and recent grads having difficulties finding work due to a number of factors, Ontario’s post-secondary education is in need of a tune-up.
Wynne’s website, kathleenwynne.ca, makes some general, pleasing statements: “committed to the 30 per cent tuition reduction grant,” a current program; “increased opportunities for graduate education,” whatever those opportunities may be; “foster and support the entrepreneurial spirit of our undergraduate and graduate students,” however she plans to do that. Essentially, Wynne has said to students that education is important, that changes can help, but hasn’t listed the specifics on how to enact this change.
That said, some of her ideas are more creative: “PSE institutions should collaborate more with school boards,” meaning students have the opportunity to learn differently than the traditional lecture setting, an initiative other provinces (and other countries) have already embraced; distance education and many technical and vocational courses allow learners to achieve their academic goals while learning in an alternative way.
Wynne also sees value in creating a youth advisory council, formed from many young people from a variety of backgrounds. Organizations from Red Cross to 4H use youth committees to hear the voices of young people to provide services to young people, so the same may positively impact the province. And this along with flexibility for transfer students, more internships and placements, and more adult learning, Ontario may become an example for non-traditional learning and educational invention.
But will Wynne be able to use this flexibility to either lower the cost of tuition in the province or, possibly, justify it? In Alberta, Premier Alison Redford is shuffling her cabinet in order to encourage applied research at universities, focused on diversification and economic development. Will Wynne follow a similar, heavy-handed role? And should government have such an impact on the structure of universities?
In time, Ontario will see whether or not Wynne has education on her mind, and whether she has ways to ensure Ontario’s education is affordable and accessible.
Will Wynne’s victory be a real win?

James Michael McDonald is the editor of Jobpostings Magazine and jobpostings.ca. He has passions for human rights, gaming, and the Oxford Comma. Follow him on Twitter @mcjamdonald