Mar 28, 2026
Canada's college sector is under mounting pressure as the landscape shifts dramatically. Federal international student caps and stagnant provincial funding have combined to create a perfect storm for higher education. This week, that storm made a direct hit on one of Toronto's most prominent institutions.
George Brown Polytechnic has officially triggered a "mass termination" process, a move required by provincial labour rules when an employer plans to let go of 50 or more staff within a four-week period. According to a government-mandated "Form 1" notice dated March 4, the college is laying off 51 employees, including 22 hourly and 29 salaried workers.
A steep decline in the student body
The numbers behind this decision are startling. Full-time enrolment at George Brown has plummeted by 29% to 15,889 compared to the winter 2025 term. The impact is most visible at the St. James campus, where several hospitality and culinary arts programs were suspended last fall. That campus is currently operating at just over half the capacity it saw this time last year.
In a statement, a spokesperson for George Brown described the layoffs as a "last resort, taken only after exploring all other cost-saving measures and following a comprehensive review of program delivery, workload and operational requirements."
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Why the funding boost is not enough
Ontario government's recently promised to inject $6.4 billion into the post-secondary sector while finally lifting the long-standing tuition freeze (1). While that sounds like a lifeline, George Brown President Gervan Fearon warned staff in a February email that he did not expect these changes to solve the broader financial hurdles.
Internal slides from a recent faculty meeting point to a "severe drop in international enrolment, the drop in domestic enrolment across the institution, the multi-year tuition freeze and low government grant, and rising labour costs" (2) as the primary drivers for a 6% across all department budgets.
A pattern emerging across Ontario
George Brown is not alone in this struggle. Earlier this week, Humber Polytechnic also moved forward with layoffs after voluntary exit packages failed to bridge a projected fiscal gap for 2026-27. Across the province, colleges have already cancelled or suspended more than 600 programs.
Union leaders, some with decades of experience at these institutions, noted they have never seen "mass termination" notices of this nature before. Jeff Brown, lead steward for George Brown faculty, told Toronto Star, "What we’ve seen at George Brown over the past few months is a clear shift in the justification the college is providing for faculty and staff layoffs." He noted that while previous cuts were targeted at specific closed programs, management is now indicating a need for "cuts across the board."
Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
Government of Ontario (1); Toronto Star (2)
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Leslie Kennedy served as an editor at Thomson Reuters and for Star Media Group, followed by a number of years as a writer and editor and content manager in marketing communications, before returning to her editorial roots. She is a graduate of Humber College’s post-graduate journalism program and has been a professional writer and editor ever since.
