Tories tell colleges, universities to develop free-speech policies

Ontario colleges and universities must come up with free-speech policies or face funding cuts, the Progressive Conservative government said Thursday, delivering on a promise Premier Doug Ford made during the spring election.

The schools have until Jan. 1, 2019, to develop, implement and comply with the policies, which experts said were aimed at pleasing a segment of the Tory base that was outraged when some speakers and professors came under fire for their conservative views.

The Tory government said the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario would monitor compliance starting in September 2019, and schools that don’t comply could face funding cuts. Students who contravene the policies would be subject to existing campus discipline measures.

“Colleges and universities should be places where students exchange different ideas and opinions in open and respectful debate,” Ford said in a statement. “Our government made a commitment to the people of Ontario to protect free speech on campuses.”

Emmett Macfarlane, a politicalscience professor at the University of Waterloo, said free speech on campus has become a far-right issue by virtue of the fact that most of the controversies have involved people with conservative views.

“The politics behind this and the motivations of the premier are quite clear,” he said. “This plays well with a certain segment of his base.”

Several Canadian campuses have seen incidents in which controversial speakers or professors have come under fire for their views. One of the most publicized was that of Lindsay Shepherd, a Wilfrid Laurier University teaching assistant who was chastised for airing a clip featuring professor Jordan Peterson, who has become a hero of the free-speech movement.

The government said all university and college policies must include a definition of freedom of speech and adhere to principles based on the University of Chicago Statement on Principles of Free Expression. That document says colleges and universities are places for open and free discussion, institutions should not shield students from ideas they disagree with or find offensive, and university or college community members cannot obstruct the freedom of others to share their views.

Chris Glover, the NDP colleges and universities critic, said the official Opposition will be watching the policy development process.