THUNDER BAY – Opponents of a plan to sever the Northern Ontario School of Medicine from Lakehead and Laurentian universities may have lost their best chance to stop the move.
Proposed legislation that would allow NOSM to operate as an independent institution was passed Friday by Ontario's standing committee on general government, and will soon return to the legislature for third reading.
The changes are included in a large omnibus package, Bill 276, the Supporting Recovery and Competitiveness Act.
Thunder Bay–Atikokan MPP Judith Monteith-Farrell, who voted against the bill in committee Friday, said she was “very disappointed” it had passed over objections from leaders at Lakehead, Thunder Bay’s city council, and others.
“We had hoped the submissions to the committee, the impassioned pleas of many, many people would have been heard,” she said.
The committee, which has a majority of governing Progressive Conservative MPPs, voted 5-4 to move the bill forward.
NOSM will still have to secure accreditation as a university, a step that could take over a year, Monteith-Farrell said.
“We’ll see how that proceeds, but as it stands, [I’m] not very optimistic,” she said. “This was our best chance of getting it revoked.”
It’s “hard to say” whether the move could be reversed under a future government, said Monteith-Farrell, who intends to run again in the next provincial election set for June of 2022.
It’s not certain the accreditation process will even be complete by then, she noted.
The government proposed severing NOSM following the news earlier this year that Laurentian University would file for insolvency.
NOSM Dean Dr. Sarita Verma, has called it a "step towards maturity” that will help the school extend its reach throughout Northern Ontario, though she has said she did not request it.
Verma has consistently rejected concerns that independence could open the door to loosen ties with Thunder Bay, saying those expressing the concern were "spreading fear and panic.”
The medical school, which leases its buildings from Lakehead and Laurentian, has close to 100 employees in Thunder Bay.
Those assurances don’t cut it for Monteith-Farrell.
“When they’re connected to Lakehead, we’re assured that there isn’t going to be a move out of Thunder Bay,” she said in an interview. “I’m not saying [Dr. Verma] isn’t telling the truth at this point, but she’s not going to be there forever.”
The risks of the change were not balanced by any obvious benefits, she argued.
“We haven’t heard convincing arguments from the government side on why they feel this is a good idea – they were pretty silent in committee.”
The change would make NOSM the only standalone medical school in North America, she said.
“That’s for good reason, because you want that connectedness, you want students to have more opportunities, it’s a recruitment method for universities – there are lots of reasons,” she said.
The school is hoping to expand its student numbers, Monteith-Farrell said, expressing skepticism the provincial legislation would aid in that goal.
“This doesn’t do that for them,” she said. “I would have much rather seen a piece of legislation that gave NOSM the supports to expand its programs, and that is not in this legislation.”
Leaders at Lakehead University have vociferously opposed the split, pointing to the benefits for research that accrue from hosting a medical school, as well as efficiencies.
"We know there are going to be significant increases in costs and duplication of services,” Lakehead president Moira McPherson said earlier this month.
The move drew some consternation from within PC ranks as well, with the party’s candidate for 2022 in Thunder Bay–Atikokan resigning her candidacy over the issue.
