Following revelations that Conestoga College is facing a $32.8-million deficit, union leaders representing faculty and support staff are speaking out, demanding answers and calling for the public release of a provincial audit. The massive financial reversal, down from a $121-million surplus in 2025, came after tuition revenue plummeted 57 per cent due to a federal limit on international student enrolment. The college said it had 8,584 international students for the 2025 spring semester, representing a 62 per cent drop from 22,633 students at the same time in 2024. “Unfortunately, when the federal government does a 180 on immigration, a lot of post-secondary institutions were relying on those immigrants to basically fill the seats and pay three times the tuition of locals,” said Moshe Lander, from the department of economics at Concordia University. However, union representatives argued that federal policy shifts are only part of the story, pointing to years of internal mismanagement and what they call a total failure of executive oversight. “The swing is massive,” said Leopold Koff, president of OPSEU Local 237, the union that represents faculty, librarians and counsellors at Conestoga College. “Somebody was writing cheques that they thought they would be able to cash in the future with no consideration of the river of money ending at some point.” ‘Where did all that money go?’ In May, the provincial government dissolved Conestoga’s Board of Governors after a third-party audit uncovered what officials described as “egregious financial decisions.” The findings of that provincial audit remain hidden from the public, something union leaders believe must change. “There’s been no oversight. The board of governors is supposed to provide oversight, and the ministry is supposed to provide oversight. There’s no oversight, no accountability that we can see,” Koff said. Vikki Poirier, president of OPSEU Local 238, the union that represents support staff, echoed those concerns, questioning how years of record-breaking revenues disappeared so quickly. “Here is a damning report. But how did we get here? Where did all that money go?” Poirier asked. “Is it in a mattress somewhere?” In 2024, Conestoga College reported a surplus of $251,646,838, more than double the 2023 surplus of $106,220,863. Frustrations grow over ‘iron curtain of secrecy’ When the province stepped in this spring, it appointed Linda Franklin as interim administrator to overhaul governance. The unions said they were told they would have a meeting with Franklin, but it still hasn’t happened. “I don’t even know if Linda Franklin is a human being,” Koff said “I’m beginning to wonder if she’s an AI bot.” The unions said they were also told they would be involved in helping to choose the next president and CEO, but they haven’t heard anything on that front either. “There’s this iron curtain of secrecy and exclusion that’s been at the college for over almost four decades. It’s time to end,” Koff said. “But we see no evidence of that ending with Linda Franklin coming into the picture. Nothing has changed.” In May the unions were told there would be a pause on faculty layoffs that were in the works when Franklin came in. Koff said he doesn’t know those staffing changes will resume soon, but he expects to get an update in September. Former president at centre of financial controversy Longtime president John Tibbits, who served at the helm of Conestoga College from 1987 until January 2026, had been a focal point for several controversies surrounding the institution’s spending habits. When the province dissolved the school’s Board of Governors after the audit, provincial officials cited Tibbits’ compensation as a major catalyst for the intervention. “A 55 per cent increase in [Tibbits’] take-home salary year-over-year from 2024 to 2025 is egregious. Over $630,000 annually. And then that triggered an audit,” said Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, at the time. At the end of his nearly 40-year tenure, the province disclosed that Tibbits received an exit package worth 83 times his monthly salary. College response CTV News reached out to Conestoga College regarding the unions’ claims, requests to release the audit and claims about not meeting Franklin yet. The college stated it had no new comments to offer, pointing instead to a statement released Friday by acting interim president Norma McDonald Ewing. That statement did not address the union’s calls for the audit’s release or the $32.8-million deficit directly. “Amid a new post-secondary landscape across Canada, Conestoga College continues to make strategic decisions to support the long-term financial sustainability of the institution and keep delivering a world-class education that prepares students for good-paying, in-demand jobs and careers,” Ewing wrote on Friday. “Thanks to our multi-year sustainability plan and the government’s new funding model, which supports programs in demand in our local workforce, Conestoga continues to build Southwestern Ontario’s workforce for decades to come.”
