Caroline Mulroney has been shuffled to the transportation file, from the ministry of the attorney general, in a wholesale cabinet shuffle unveiled by Premier Doug Ford on June 20, 2019. She will retain her post as Francophone Affairs Minister. Richard Lautens/Toronto Star

The Ontario government says it needs a “firm” federal funding commitment before moving forward with plans for a new French-language university.

In a joint statement released Thursday morning, Francophone Affairs Minister Caroline Mulroney and Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Ross Romano said the province “welcomed” a memorandum of understanding (MOU) it received from the federal government this week about the proposed Université de l’Ontario français, and hoped to hear back soon about their latest funding request.

“We are urging the federal government to mobilize its resources to make a concrete financial commitment to the project. This would enable us to move forward with this important opportunity to collaborate on the implementation of Université de l’Ontario français,” reads a statement attributed to Mulroney and Romano.

“We have asked the federal government to make a firm financial commitment and look forward to hearing back from them as soon as possible,” the ministers added.

However, iPolitics has learned that after receiving a MOU for the project from the federal government, signed on Sept. 3, the province sent back an unsigned amended version for approval this week.

READ MORE: Ford government’s new plan for French-language university ‘far from concrete proposal,’ say feds

According to copies of the MOUs obtained by iPolitics, the amended version sent by Ontario removed a section stating it’s a provincial responsibility to “fund the establishment and continuity” of the university, as well as other sections saying Ottawa had yet to receive an “official proposal” from the province and that Ontario would provide a “formal proposal” to seek project funding.

Another passage that was removed said Canada would seek assurance from Ontario that it would reimburse federal funds contributed to the project “should Ontario not be in a position to provide funding within the expected timeframe.”

The documents also show that Ontario added a passage explicitly stating the province and federal government would each “contribute an equal share of the agreed-upon governmental contribution” to the Université de l’Ontario français for its first eight years in operation, and from 2019-20 to 2023-24, the federal government would cover 50 per cent of the project costs for the school. And starting in 2023-24, Ontario will “match the federal contribution,” according to the province’s MOU. When reached for comment, Minister Romano’s office said in a statement the provincial government has “already secured the necessary approvals” for its share of the project and is “ready to commit to funding 50 per cent of the $126 million required of the eight-year implementation period.” It also provided a copy of a letter sent by Romano to Official Languages Minister Mélanie Joly on Thursday noting the proposed amendments it had made to the MOU sent by the federal government, specifically highlighting the “requirement that both Canada and Ontario share equally in a $126 million investment to implement the university over eight years.” Romano also urged Joly in the letter to “proceed directly to a funding agreement that clearly outlines our joint commitment” to the new university in order to “move forward expeditiously.” Joly’s office told iPolitics it’s currently studying the amended version of the MOU sent by the Ontario government. The statement from the province on Thursday comes nearly a week after Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government went public with its demands for $63 million from Ottawa to finance the planned university, expected to be located in Toronto. It also represents a stark reversal from earlier this year, when the province refused to reverse its cancellation of the school when the federal government offered to extend funding to a team working on the project. The former Ontario Liberal government in 2017 approved plans for the province’s first French-only university, with Ottawa at the time committing $40 million to the project’s then $83-million budget. However, the new Ford government cancelled the proposed university late last year as part of efforts to balance Ontario’s budget, despite committing during the 2018 election campaign to build the school. A Liberal source told iPolitics that officials from Mulroney’s office put forward the new offer for $63 million in funding from the federal government in a single phone call last Tuesday, despite only resuming talks with Ottawa on reviving the school project in July. The estimated price tag for the project now stands at $126 million. When federal officials asked last week when they could receive the official funding request in writing, they were told by Mulroney’s office the proposal would only be communicated by the phone, the source said, suggesting the minister hadn’t even received approval from the Ontario Treasury Board to make the offer. The source accused the Ford government of only putting forward the offer to try to help the federal Conservatives on the campaign trail in the fall, noting the cancellation of the school project, as well as their axing of the province’s commissioner for French-language services, was strongly opposed by French-speaking voters in Ontario and even Quebec. In their statement on Thursday, Mulroney and Romano said the Ford government recognizes the “importance of a university governed by — and for — francophones in Ontario,” and wants to “ensure French-speaking students can count on an efficient, cost-effective and sustainable post-secondary education system that is aligned with labour market needs.” Jeremy Ghio, a spokesperson for Joly, told iPolitics last week there is “a lot of good will” between Ontario and the federal government when it comes to the university, but said “we are still far from a concrete proposal from the province.” “We support the project and we want to move it forward, but we will do our homework diligently and we will not be rushed by last-minute interventions,” he said. READ MORE: Ford rejects calls to reverse cuts to French-language services *This story has been updated with comment from the federal government, new details about the memorandum of understanding between the two sides, additional comment from the province, and to clarify that Ontario ‘welcomed’ the MOU it received from the feds. Follow @Marco_Vigliotti