Kawartha Lakes city council passed a resolution at its meeting on Tuesday (May 21) to encourage the provincial and federal governments to support academic programming at Fleming College’s Frost campus, in response to a deputation by two Fleming College students at an earlier council meeting.
Frost campus students Emily Wakeham and Suzanne Mooser had appeared before council at its May 7th committee of the whole meeting, where they asked that council consider and pass a resolution calling for the college’s reversal of its decision to cancel 29 of its programs, 16 of which were offered at the Frost campus.
At Tuesday’s meeting, council heard a deputation from Kawartha Lakes resident Jamie Malloy, owner and president of Fraserville-based Iron Equipment, one of southern Ontario’s largest heavy equipment repair and service providers.
Malloy — who himself graduated from Fleming College’s heavy equipment maintenance course in 1999 — expressed his concern about the college’s decision to discontinue its Heavy Equipment Techniques and Generator Service Technician programs.
He provided a list of areas where generator and heavy equipment maintenance is needed, including backup power generation for hospitals, assisted living homes, emergency operations such as police, fire, and paramedics, and all buildings with elevators, aggregate quarry operations, construction, concrete building materials, farming operations, and city services including wastewater.
“These key technicians keep all of this equipment running for all of us,” Malloy said. “I see firsthand the increasing demand for skilled technicians in this industry and the shortage of qualified professionals.”
Malloy said that, while he understands the programs may not have been “a high revenue generator for the college,” he believes the board of governors at Fleming College did not consider the return on investment in the community when making the decision to cancel the programs and was not provided with information showing that return on investment.
“As a community, we should be working with our government to provide college boards with the appropriate figures regarding the return to the community, so in the future they can make a better-informed decision,” Malloy said, asking council to provide support by encouraging Fleming College to reinstate the Heavy Equipment Techniques and Generator Service Technician programs.
In response to a question from councillor Dan Joyce, who referred to a May 13 letter council received from Fleming College president Maureen Adamson that stated some of the discontinued programs “are no longer financially sustainable with enrolment levels that do not cover the cost of delivery,” Malloy admitted “it is not a cheap course to run” and “probably does not make the same money that some other courses would make,” but that there is a wider economic impact on the community from providing the programs.
Malloy noted that industry has donated equipment for the program in the past, but he is not aware of Fleming College approaching industry to ask for help in sustaining the programs. He also said that the closest similar programs are at Centennial College in Toronto and in Timmins.
Council also received for information the aforementioned letter from Adamson, in which she mentioned kawarthaNOW’s coverage of the council’s committee of the whole meeting on May 7 and proceeded to “dispel some misinformation and concerns that were noted in the coverage of the meeting,” including a statement that “Frost campus is NOT closing” — even though this was not raised during the council meeting nor in kawarthaNOW’s coverage of the meeting.
Later in the meeting, deputy mayor Charlie McDonald introduced a motion for a council resolution on the Fleming College situation..
“There’s no doubt that this affects this community in a big way,” McDonald said. “And it’s a trickle effect in many ways, from people that rent houses to people who work in restaurants, and so on. This is bigger than us … but we need to support the students and everyone going forward.”
McDonald’s motion reads:
“That the City of Kawartha Lakes encourages both federal and provincial governments to invest in and provide support and legislation that promotes colleges, and specifically Fleming College Frost Campus, with the suitability and resources to support, to maintain, and expand on local academic programming and community workforce development, and that this resolution be forwarded to … the provincial ministry of colleges and universities, provincial ministry of economic development, job creation and trade, provincial ministry of labour, immigration, training and skills development, provincial ministry of the environment, conservation and parks, provincial ministry of natural resources and forestry, and provincial ministry of agriculture, food and rural affairs, the federal minister of immigration, MP Jamie Schmale, and MPP Lori Scott.”
McDonald’s motion was approved by council.
