On Sunday the Ontario NDP Party took aim at Chris Scott, the Progressive Conservative Party candidate in Sault Ste. Marie, in a news release that criticizes the work he did when Ross Romano was the Minister of Colleges and Universities.
"Doug Ford’s hand-picked candidate for Sault Ste. Marie oversaw the financial collapse of one of Northern Ontario’s biggest bilingual public universities from his senior position at the Ministry of Colleges and Universities," the NDP release said.
"From 2019 to 2021 Chris Scott, who has never lived in the Sault and was appointed without a local nomination process, worked as a senior staffer, including as Deputy Chief of Staff and Executive Director of Policy, to Ford’s Minister of Colleges and Universities."
In 2020 Laurentian University requested $100M of funding from the province for “termination and severance” payments. Instead of taking this warning and working with Laurentian, Scott’s team denied their request and let the university fail, the release said.
"As a result of Scott’s decisions, Laurentian filed for bankruptcy in 2021, leading to the closure of 69 programs and the firing of 200 workers with French language services particularly hard hit," the release said.
"Clearly, when the Auditor General cited weak provincial oversight as a significant factor in the Laurentian University Financial Crisis, she was talking about Chris Scott.
"It's no wonder he isn’t showing up to debates or talking to local media. He can’t defend his record so he’s hiding from voters. The people of Sault Ste. Marie and Northern Ontario deserve an MPP who is on their side," the release said.
Scott responded on Sunday night by saying while he's "focused on talking to the people of Sault Ste. Marie every day about their real concerns, challenges, and opportunities, the NDP is talking about me."
"As your member of provincial parliament, I will always make the people here my top priority. Earning the chance to be our community's voice at Queen's Park and deliver a better life is a much better use of my time than responding to the illogical and desperate accusations of the NDP."