The Ontario government under Premier Doug Ford unanimously quashed an opposition motion by the NDP on Monday (Oct. 28) to restore funding to three university expansion projects axed last week.

“We asked all MPPs to stand with us and deliver the post-secondary investments that GTA communities have long been promised. But not a single Conservative MPP from Brampton, Milton or Markham stood up for their own communities today by voting for this motion. That’s not leadership, and certainly not why their constituents sent them to Queen’s Park,” said Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath.

On Oct. 23, just one day after municipal elections were held across the province, the ruling PC government announced it was cancelling funding for a planned Ryerson University campus in Brampton, a York University/Seneca College expansion in Markham, as well as a Wilfrid Laurier University/Conestoga College expansion in Milton.

All three projects had been approved by the previous Liberal government under Kathleen Wynne.

“People living in Brampton, Milton, and Markham have spent years fighting to give their children, and generations to come, more opportunity in their own communities. Now, just when GTA families could see that opportunity — three new university campuses — about to become a reality, Doug Ford ripped the carpet out from under them and callously defunded these projects overnight,” wrote Horwath in a release sent Monday following the vote.

Horwath was in Brampton prior to Monday’s legislative session to announce the motion, which was voted on later in the day. With a PC majority at Queen's Park, the motion was not expected to pass.

Following its decision to axe the funding last week, the Ontario government issued a statement claiming the cancellations were necessary to balance the province’s books after years of fiscal mismanagement by the previous government.

"The government is committed to taking action to restore trust and accountability in the province's public finances. This measure will help make government more effective and efficient, and will ensure all spending is delivering the best value for the people of Ontario," wrote Merrilee Fullerton, minister of training, colleges and universities.

Despite the cancelled provincial funding, Horwath and city representatives are hopeful the City of Brampton and Ryerson can find alternative funding to save the project.

“I absolutely (believe there’s hope). I think this government is going to find out soon enough that people wanted change in Ontario, but they didn’t want change that’s going to drag us backwards to the last century,” Horwath told The Guardian.