Dommage! French university will be in Toronto, not Cornwall

(Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston, File)

CORNWALL – A push by local politicians to have Ontario’s French university set up in the Seaway City has been unsuccessful.

Federal and provincial government officials signed a joint federal-provincial funding agreement today (Jan. 22) to start the first Ontario French-language university in Toronto.

The government also stated today the building will be located in Toronto and will take its first students in September 2021.

The university will be funded $126 million over eight years with the federal government covering 50 per cent of that – $63 million over five years.

Four months ago, Coun. Syd Gardiner put a motion before Cornwall city council to lobby the province to put the Francophone university in the city.

It had long been expected that the university would be located in the provincial capital but Cornwall still wanted to try for the educational institute.