The Rae Report was the result of a

provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Canad ...

review of post-secondary

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

led by former

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Bob Rae Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...

. After the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

government of

Dalton McGuinty Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Jr. (born July 19, 1955) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 24th premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He was the first Liberal leader to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nea ...

brought in a fully funded tuition fee freeze at public

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

s and

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in April 2004, it announced a sweeping review of public post-secondary education was to take place.

Review process

In the summer of 2004, the government announced that Rae was to head the review. As a backup to the former premier, a seven member advisory panel was announced: Leslie Church, Ian Davidson,

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Behind Oliver Mowat, Davis was the List of premiers of Ontario by time in office, second-longes ...

Don Drummond (economist) Don Drummond, is a noted Canadian economist, having served extensively in the federal Department of Finance Canada, as Chief Economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank and as a scholar at Queen's University. He is known for his wide contributions to p ...

Inez Elliston Inez is a feminine given name. It is the English spelling of the Spanish and Portuguese name Inés/Inês/Inez, the forms of the given name " Agnes". The name is pronounced as , , or Agnes is a woman's given name, which derives from the Greek w ...

, Richard Johnston and

Huguette LaBelle Huguette Labelle (born April 15, 1939) is a Canadian retired civil servant and former Chancellor of the University of Ottawa, serving from 1994 until 2012. She has been the chair of the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments since 20 ...

was a Progressive Conservative and former Education Minister and Premier of Ontario. Don Drummond is currently a Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the

Toronto-Dominion Bank Toronto-Dominion Bank (), doing business as TD Bank Group (), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The bank was created on February 1, 1955, through the merger of the Bank of ...

. Richard Johnston was formerly a leadership rival to Rae at the 1982 Ontario NDP convention. The panel also included a young Liberal and a former adviser to the federal government. Rae toured the province in fall of 2004, hosting many town-halls and roundtables.

Conclusions

The final report called for deregulation of tuition fees and the introduction of a scheme to finance university and college education - income-contingent loan repayments. The report also called for an increase in public funding of colleges and universities - about half of what had been cut in the past decade, as well as upfront grants for students who come from households with an income of less than $22,000 per annum.

Criticism

Rae's appointment was opposed by many students, who had seen his government permit a 57% increase in

tuition fee Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...

s and the elimination of need-based grants. (The Rae administration cut back on social services as a whole in the early nineties to reduce the deficit caused by the recession.) The composition of the advisory panel also came under fire as none of its members had a record of support for reduced or frozen tuition fees. Rae was also criticized for having drawn conclusions prior to the consultation phase of the review. In May 2004, Rae speculated about the possibility of an outright deregulation of tuition fees - to the outrage of student advocacy groups. Upon its release the report was criticized by

Howard Hampton Howard George Hampton (born May 17, 1952) is a politician who was a member of Provincial Parliament for the province of Ontario. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada, from 1987 to 1999 in the electoral district of Rainy Ri ...

, Rae's former cabinet minister and successor as Ontario NDP leader. This is not surprising, as both had a tenuous relationship during the 1990-95 NDP government; the left-wing Hampton had disapproved of many of Rae's centrist policies. The report was also criticized by the

Canadian Federation of Students The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) is a student organization in Canada, representing over 530,000 students from across Canada. Formed in 1981, the stated goal of the Federation is to represent the collective voice of Canadian students a ...

who had always lobbied for a tuition freeze/lowering. Rae defended his report, arguing that low income non-university individuals would not benefit from a tuition freeze/lowering. He stated that a reduced tuition would make little impact on a student's decision between university and entering the workforce. Rae also said that non-university individuals would be forced to bear the tax burden needed to sustain a freeze/lowering. Supporters also asserted that a university education would primarily benefit the individual rather than being a public good.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Full text of the Rae Report
(PDF), on the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities website
The Rae Report: improving financial aid and broadening access to universities
policyoptions.irpp.org Commissions and inquiries in Ontario Higher education in Ontario