Planned closure and sale of the Algonquin College Perth campus draw concern
PERTH — Two former senior government ministers are calling on the province to intervene in Algonquin College’s planned closure and sale of its Perth campus, arguing the move violates the intent of nearly $10 million in public funding invested more than a decade ago.
In a jointly-signed letter to Nolan Quinn, Ontario’s minister responsible for colleges and universities, former federal infrastructure minister John Baird and former Ontario minister of training, colleges and universities John Milloy expressed “profound concern” over Algonquin College’s plan to divest from the Perth campus by August 2026.
“This funding was not a general grant to Algonquin College for redistribution at its discretion,” the letter states. “It was a targeted commitment to the community of Perth and the surrounding region.”
Algonquin College has cited projected financial deficits and broader challenges facing the post secondary sector as reasons for relocating programs back to its Ottawa campus and selling the Perth property. Baird and Milloy argue the move contradicts the purpose of the 2009 federal provincial investment that funded a major expansion of the campus.
“The funding was explicitly tied to sustaining post secondary education in Perth, not repatriating it to urban centres,” the letter states.
Baird and Milloy were among the ministers who announced the funding in 2009, which supported the transformation of the Perth campus into a purpose built facility focused on heritage trades and green technology. At the time, the investment was promoted as a way to strengthen post secondary education in rural eastern Ontario, address skilled trades shortages, and position Perth as a national leader in heritage trades training.
The campus was designed as a one-of-a kind institution dedicated to hands-on heritage trades education. Its facilities include a masonry shop, joinery shop, outdoor construction pad, timber and log building areas, and laboratories for mortar science, a setup the former ministers say is unmatched in Canada.
“There is no other facility in Canada like that for the purpose of simply teaching this stuff,” said Christopher Hahn, former dean of Algonquin College and the Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence.
The letter notes that graduates of the Perth campus have gone on to work on major restoration projects, including Parliament Hill, and that the campus has generated millions of dollars annually in local economic activity through jobs, student spending, and partnerships.
Baird and Milloy argue that selling the campus and redirecting its assets to Ottawa undermines public policy objectives, weakens rural access to education, and further strains skilled trades capacity in eastern Ontario.
They also raise concerns about whether Algonquin College has the legal authority to sell the publicly funded asset.
“While Algonquin is certainly free to cease its programming on the Perth campus, it does not appear to us that it is free to commercially dispose of a public asset that was funded in good faith by both Ontario and Canada for a specific purpose,” the former ministers wrote.
The letter urges the province to halt any sale process and instead facilitate the transfer of the campus to a community based steward committed to preserving its original mission. The former ministers point to a proposal by Perth resident Toby Shannan, former chief operating officer of Shopify, who is working to establish a not for profit college to continue heritage trades programming and has indicated a willingness to contribute $10 million of his own funds toward the effort.
They are calling on the current minister to exercise provincial authority to protect the campus as a public asset and ensure it remains dedicated to heritage trades education in Lanark County.
Algonquin College has not publicly responded to the letter. The Ministry of Colleges and Universities has also not commented on whether it intends to intervene.
The planned closure has sparked growing concern among local residents, alumni, and municipal leaders, who say the loss would be a significant blow to the community, to heritage trades education in Canada, and to rural post secondary education in eastern Ontario.
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