School cuts amount to slash, burn, and pillage

By Jessica Bell

Summer break

The Conservative government has closed the legislature and put us on a record-setting extended summer break until Oct. 27.   

The premier didn’t shut down the legislature because he is lazy; he did it because he doesn’t want to be subjected to the daily scrutiny of MPPs and reporters holding his government accountable for their decisions. That’s democracy.  Doug Ford doesn’t like it.

Here’s two issues we’re working on this summer. 

Secretive school cuts

Since the TDSB was placed under provincial supervision, the school board has been making drastic cuts, mostly centred on schooling for kids who need the most help. Here’s what we know. 

Next school year, Orde Street Public School, near College Street and University Avenue will be moving to the Heydon Park Secondary School location on D’Arcy Street. Heydon Park will move to either Vaughan Road Academy or Rockcliffe Middle School, both outside the riding.

I think the TDSB is making these terrible moves because they want to sell off the valuable Orde Street property to generate revenue and close Heydon Park to reduce costs. Despite many kids wanting to attend the special needs school, the TDSB is no longer allowing Heydon Park to accept new students in Grades 9 and 10.

The supervisor eliminated class size caps for Grades 4 to 8 which sets the stage for ultra-large class sizes. Special education class sizes have also been increased.  

Diagnostic kindergartens have been closed. The high-needs kids who attend these classes will now move to regular classrooms, and you don’t need a lot of imagination to see how that will affect learning for every single student.

Staffing positions at model schools have been eliminated. These schools are in lower-income areas. Instead of giving kids the extra teaching time to make up for some of the disadvantages they face, schools are allocating resources based on enrolment only. 

The TDSB is closing some cafeterias, including the cafeteria at Rosedale School of the Arts, along with most of Toronto’s outdoor education centres, which is where many children get their first experience of overnight camp. 

The Conservatives say that these cuts are due to declining enrolment. This is not true. First, the cut in funding is far greater than the modest decline in enrolment. Second, any decline in enrolment must be partly a result of the Conservatives choosing to cut $6 billion in funding from our school system.  

Cutting funding in response to declining enrolment puts us on a disastrous race to the bottom when we should be investing in a top-tier public school system.  

Ontario is seeing steepest job losses since 2009 

Ontario lost 52,900 jobs in the first quarter of 2026, the steepest quarterly job loss since early 2009, excluding the pandemic. Nearly half of those losses were in manufacturing.

University-Rosedale is home to some of Ontario’s biggest employers, including Canada’s largest banks, the Ontario public service, the University of Toronto, and Canada’s largest hospitals. Downtown Toronto has been somewhat insulated from the tariff war. 

Even so, for the first time since I’ve been elected, I am regularly meeting people, especially recent graduates, who are telling me they are having difficulty finding a job.   

The Conservative government’s strategy has been to give secret loans to big companies, including foreign companies, with no clear conditions attached. Companies like this model, but it doesn’t always help workers or our economy long-term because the investment doesn’t always trickle down. Companies are under no obligation to keep workers employed, increase hiring, or keep factories or businesses in Ontario. They should be. 

We are calling for Ontario to more actively manage the economy by investing in public infrastructure and public services to keep and create good jobs here. Ontario should also bring in more robust Buy Ontario, Build Ontario rules so government contracts go to Ontario and Canadians businesses wherever possible. We would be doing our part to bring more Ontario products to Ontario buyers.  

Hospitals should be built by Canadian companies, not U.S. ones. It should be easy to identify and buy Ontario fruit and vegetables at the supermarket.  More Ontario wood should be used to build needed housing. More Ontario steel should be used for transit lines and buildings.  

Over the summer we will continue to get creative to highlight what this government is doing poorly and propose better solutions. Please visit my website at jessicabellmpp.ca for more information about the location and time of upcoming park visits and ice-cream socials we’re hosting to get your feedback and ideas. 

Jessica Bell is the NDP MPP for University-Rosedale and the shadow minister for finance and the treasury board for the Official Opposition. Contact her at jbell-co@ndp.on.ca or 416 535 7206.

READ MORE BY JESSICA BELL:

• FORUM: Ontario’s terrible climate plan should inspire action (June 2026)
• FORUM: Bringing jets to Billy Bishop is a terrible idea (May 2026)
• FORUM: Schools struggle under Ford’s supervisor czar (Apr. 2026)
• FORUM: Generation screwed (Mar. 2026)
• FORUM: A lurking health crisis is right in front of us (Feb. 2026)
• FORUM: Our health-care crisis deepens (Jan. 2026)
• FORUM: Doug Ford thumbs his nose at democracy (Dec. 2025)
• FORUM: A troubling track record (Oct./Nov. 2025)
• FORUM: Province late to the party on affordable housing rules (Sept. 2025)
• FORUM: Coping with heat is the new norm (Aug. 2025)
• FORUM: Now more than ever, Ontario needs to buy local (July 2025)
• FORUM: Primary health, environment, education each suffer under Ford (May/June 2025)
• FORUM: Coming up this legislative session (Apr. 2025)
• FORUM: What did the election teach us? (Mar. 2025)
• FORUM: Auditor General exposes government shortfalls (Jan. 2025)
• FORUM: Dangerous road safety bill is a distraction (Dec. 2024)
• FORUM: Bike lanes are a solution to congestion, not the cause (Oct./Nov. 2024)
• FORUM: Government ignores own experts, closes injection sites (Sept. 2024)
• FORUM: The heat is on (Summer 2024)
• FORUM: A view from inside the pink palace (June 2024)
• FORUM: Queen’s Park roundup (May 2024)