'It feels wrong' to put Franco-Ontario university in Toronto, says NDP MPP

Nickel Belt MPP France Glinas is applauding the recommendations that would establish a French-language university in Ontario, but says "it feels wrong"to put such a campus in Toronto.

Glinas's comments came after former commissioner of official languages Dyane Adam released her provincial report on the need for a Franco-Ontarian university.

"What the report says is yes, we do need a Franco-Ontarian university," Glinassaid. "And that campus should be built in Toronto."

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But Glinas says building the university in Toronto farfrom Francophone clusters like Hearst, Timmins and Sudbury means fewer Franco-Ontarians would likely travel for their post-secondary education.

"We have over 100,000 Franco-Ontarians that live here in northeastern Ontario alone, why do we have to travel?" Glinas said. "This is wrong."

"If the programs are available where [Francophones] are, they will pursue a post-secondary education," Glinas said. "For a lot of them, they give up. The more accessible university education is, the more educated our population becomes. And we all win."

The province currently has two publicly funded French-language colleges Collge Boral in Sudbury and La Cit in Ottawa.

It also hasnineFrench-language and bilingual schools offering university programs, including Laurentian University and the University of Ottawa.

Adam'sreport the first step

Glinas has lobbied hard for a French-only university, proposing a private member's bill in 2015 to explore the feasibility of a standalone campus as opposed to a bilingual university such as Laurentian University.

Adam's report is the first step in what Glinas hopes ends with a university all Franco-Ontarians can be proud of.

The Wynne government, she said, plans on supporting Adam's recommendations, but hasn't put any plan into action or stated a preference of location.

"Right now the only thingthat has happened is that Dr. Adam's report has been made public," Gelinas said. "And the government will follow up on the recommendations with a bill."

"We haven't seen that bill, so I'll reserve my comments until we've seen it."