McGill University expects that Quebec's moves to redistribute a portion of its international-tuition revenue to other universities will significantly affect its budget in the years ahead.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
McGill University has announced it recently laid off 60 people as it grapples with the financial fallout of government policies that it says could threaten its academic mission.
The layoffs, which happened last month, were made public at a town-hall meeting on the university’s budget situation Friday.
The number of jobs lost was lower than earlier estimates published by McGill’s administration, which said in February that it would likely need to eliminate between 350 and 500 jobs through retirements and layoffs to address a projected budget shortfall.
It had notified the province that approximately 99 of those jobs would be cut via layoffs.
Both McGill and Concordia University, Quebec’s largest English universities, are fighting with the province over a suite of measures that they say will significantly damage their finances.
The government has said the moves were prompted by a need to address a threat to the primacy of the French language in Montreal.
McGill University announces budget cuts in response to new Quebec policies
McGill provost Christopher Manfredi and Fabrice Labeau, vice-president, administration and finance, said in a note to campus Friday that the layoffs are agonizing for those affected, their families and their colleagues.
The layoffs should balance the budget this year, the administrators wrote. But McGill expects that the province’s moves to redistribute a portion of its international-tuition revenue to other universities will significantly affect its budget in the years ahead.
McGill declined to make Prof. Manfredi or Prof. Labeau available for interviews and did not specify which jobs were cut.
The university said it anticipates losing what it called a “staggering” $185-million in revenue over the next four years. It projects a deficit of $30-million in 2026-27 and $73-million in 2027-28, with larger deficits beyond.
“Because we have thrived for 200 years, it may be tempting to assume that no matter what happens, we’ll continue thriving for 200 more. But if our deficits mount, McGill’s core academic mission will eventually become untenable,” Prof. Manfredi and Prof. Labeau wrote.
“Unfortunately, this will mean more hard decisions this year – including cuts and potentially more staff reductions – to prevent even harder decisions next year and truly impossible decisions the year after that."
McGill recently won a partial victory over the government of CAQ Premier Francois Legault. A Quebec Superior Court judge ruled in April that the government’s increase to tuition fees for domestic students from outside Quebec who attend McGill or Concordia is unreasonable and invalid.
The recent court ruling upheld the government’s move to redistribute a portion of international tuition revenue, which tends to be higher at the English-language institutions, to other universities in Quebec.