ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN
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ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN *
Hands Off Our Education! is a provincial campaign launched by the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, aimed at opposing the persistent and targeted attacks on education. Since the Ford government came into power, there have been a number of debilitating attacks on education in the province – the two most recent ones being the introduction of Bill 33 (May 2025) and the recent OSAP & Tuition Announcement (February 2026).
Since the OSAP/Tuition announcement, the Hands Off! campaign has now morphed into an all encompassing campaign, aimed at building student power and mobilizing to reverse these detrimental changes.
Demands
What is the Hands Off Campaign fighting for?
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The Federation unequivocally believes in students’ right to a free and accessible education. Grants make education more accessible, allowing students of various socio-economic classes to receive an education. Moreover, graduates saddled with mountains of debt will likely not be active participants in the future economy – something this government deems a priority.
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Today the government doesn’t even use the term “publicly-funded colleges and universities”; they’ve shifted to “publicly assisted”. This is because in the last few decades the provincial government has willingly underfunded education, instead opting on students to lift the bottom line. Funding announcements made on the heels of years of cuts are empty promises. Stop the tuition hikes – free education now!
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These changes come right on the heel of the passing of Bill 33 – which has been this government’s attempt to destabilize and then take control of our education. Using “merit based-admissions” and “research securities” this government is hoping to further their privatization agenda to keep education only for the wealthy. Hands off our education; hands off our campuses; hands off our fees!
The threats to students are clear, with increasing tuition fees, skyrocketing student debt, and continuous government funding cuts, the time is NOW to organize against this government!
Join the fight alongside us.
Stop Bill 33!
What is Bill 33?
Bill 33 is an over-reaching piece of legislation that will have severe ramifications on all levels of education - from primary and secondary, to post-secondary education in Ontario. Submitted by MPP Paul Calandra, and co-sponsored by MPP Nolan Quinn and MPP Michael Parsa, this Bill is part of an ongoing pattern by Doug Ford’s provincial government to deliberately destabilize and defund education in Ontario.
Amidst all of this, students in Ontario continue to pay some of the highest tuition fees in the country, all because of a provincial government that refuses to fund the post-secondary education sector. The deliberate slashing of provincial funding has steadily increased since the conservative government took over, and repeatedly ignores the budget recommendations put forward by the Federation. As the provincial government cuts funding from post-secondary institutions, students are leveraged to extract more and more money, creating an unrelenting cycle.
Doug Ford claims that he’s good in a crisis and he’s proposing Bill 33 as a solution to the education crisis in the province – a crisis that his government has manufactured and furthered. Bill 33 won’t help students save money but rather, pins the high tuition costs on ancillary and levy fees, and aims to severely restrict admissions under the guise of “merit-based admissions”.
THE CANADIAN FEDERATION OF STUDENTS-ONTARIO
The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario is the oldest and largest student organization in the province, representing 350,000 students in colleges and universities in Ontario. The Federation’s mandate is to fight for a free, accessible and publicly funded post-secondary education system for all students; graduate and undergraduate, domestic and international, full-time and part-time.