February 27, 2024
SHARE
Canadaland Politics
#84 Failing Universities 101
Canadian universities are barely scraping by. Queen’s is in a whole lot of debt, Laurentian declared insolvency in 2021, Alberta universities are slashing budgets, and McGill and Concordia are in danger over an out-of-province tuition battle.
Aviva Lessard
Senior Producer
Sam Konnert
Producer/Host
Caleb Thompson
Audio Editor
André Proulx
Production Coordinator
Karyn Pugliese
Editor-in-Chief

On top of it all, the international student visa cap will limit revenues for cash-strapped universities. Combined, it could have huge implications for our knowledge-based economy.

 

How did this happen? Where do we go from here? To find out, Mattea Roach asked Simona Chiose, the former higher education reporter at the Globe and Mail, and Alex Usher, the president of Higher Education Strategy Associates.

 

Host:  Mattea Roach

Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Sam Konnert (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), André Proulx (Production in Coordinator) Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)

Guests: Alex Usher, Simona Chiose

 

Background reading:

 

Sponsors: Douglas, AG1

 

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

 

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

More from this series
More than 24,000 federal public servants have received notices that their jobs could be at risk. That is on top of the 9800 public service employees who were already let go last year.
March 3, 2026
Mark Carney is busy trying to Trump-proof Canada with a flurry of trade deals and whispers of a mega anti-Trump alliance linking Europe and the Indo-Pacific.
February 24, 2026
Surrey, BC has already recorded 51 extortions this year. 11 of them ended with shots fired.
February 17, 2026
NATO is building something new: a Defence, Security and Resilience Bank. Basically a World Bank for war, and Canada wants it.
February 10, 2026
Pierre Poilievre just cruised through his leadership review, but is the party really buying what he’s selling?
February 3, 2026
We’re back in the middle of another Donald Trump tariff tantrum—this time over Canada’s trade relationship with China.
January 27, 2026
 When the Liberals announced the national gun buyback program in 2019, it was supposed to be a simple and clear choice.
January 20, 2026
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
Canadaland Politics