Conestoga president says deferred maintenance must be Ontario budget priority

Conestoga College President John Tibbits says dealing with a deferred maintenance backlog at Ontario’s colleges should be a priority in the upcoming provincial budget, citing the $568 to $745 million in deferred maintenance projects reported in 2010 by then auditor general Jim McCarter. “Four years later, that figure is most certainly much higher,” says Tibbits. He adds that recent budgets have included less than $10 million per year for infrastructure renewal, which is “significantly less than the amount needed to address the long-overdue critical repairs, and nowhere near enough to start addressing the bigger problems.” Tibbits says colleges are grateful for the provincial commitments made towards new infrastructure projects in recent years, but concludes that support to address the critical backlog of repairs at Ontario's colleges is essential. The Record