'Most of the city is evacuating': Gridlock on Alberta highway after evacuation order in Fort McMurray
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Canadian universities reported record-high surplus revenues in wake of the pandemic as schools took advantage of last year's strong stock market performance.
According to a report from Statistics Canada published Tuesday, Canadian universities raked in $7.3 billion in surplus revenues during the 2020-2021 school year, the highest since StatCan began collecting data in 2000. Revenues increased by 12.8 per cent from the previous year to $46.3 billion while expenditures dropped by 3.8 per cent to $39.0 billion.
Much of the higher revenue can be attributed to the all-time high investment income thanks to strong stock performance in 2021. Universities earned a record-high $5.4 billion from investments in 2020-2021, compared to $44.3 million the previous year and an annual average of $1.4 billion in the previous five years.
These investment gains coincided with strong stock market performance in 2021. The S&P 500 finished off the year with a 27 per cent gain compared to the start of 2021.
"Collectively, universities demonstrated resilience by rapidly transitioning to virtual learning environments and performed better than projected, despite travel restrictions affecting international students, campus services being closed, and residences operating at lower capacity," the StatCan report said.
The record-high revenues occurred despite the fact that provincial funding has been on the decline over the last few years. Provincial funding made up 32.5 per cent of total university revenue in 2020-2021 compared to 36.7 per cent in the previous year.
In Quebec and N.L., provincial funding made up half of university revenue. But in Ontario, provincial funding only accounted for 21.4 per cent and has been declining from its peak of 42.1 per cent in 2008-2009.
On the other hand, rising tuition revenue has been able to make up for the shortfalls in provincial funding. Tuition revenue accounts for 28.8 per cent of total revenue in 2020-2021, compared to 21.5 per cent 10 years ago, especially as international tuition has continued to skyrocket.
In most provinces, international tuition is deregulated, meaning schools can charge foreign students as much as they'd like.
In 2020-2021, international undergraduate tuition rose 7.1 per cent to $32,019, compared to just $6,580 for domestic students. Some programs, such as engineering at the University of Toronto, exceeded $60,000 for international students -- and that's not including the ancillary fees.
And while provincial support has declined, support from the federal government rose that year, thanks to pandemic grant programs totalling $5.3 billion. Federal funding accounted for 11.4 per cent of university revenue, compared to 10.3 per cent the previous year.
Because of a lack of on-campus activities amid COVID-19 restrictions, universities also lost $1.5 billion or nearly half of the revenue from the sale and services of products, such as in cafeterias, gyms and residences.
Universities also reported a 3.8 per cent drop in expenditures, representing the largest decrease since StatCan began data collection. The largest drop was in Alberta, where universities cut expenditures by 10.8 per cent thanks to belt-tightening measures in response to cuts in provincial funding.
In the upcoming year, StatCan says it's unlikely that universities will report similarly high revenue, given the drop in the stock market since the beginning of this year. However, as on-campus activities continue to resume, StatCan says this may yield increases in revenue from tuition fees and ancillary services.
"The repercussions of the pandemic will continue to be felt in the year 2021/2022, and it might take years for universities to return to the pre-pandemic growth levels," the report said.
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Less than a week after two public sculptures featuring a livestream between Dublin, Ireland, and New York City debuted, 'inappropriate behaviour' in real-time interactions between people in the two cities has prompted a temporary shutdown.
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
Nearly 1,000 wildfires have burned across Canada so far this year. Here's an overview of the situation in Canada.
King Charles III has unveiled the first portrait of the monarch completed since he assumed the throne, a vivid image that depicts him in the bright red uniform of the Welsh Guards against a background of similar hues.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, 'So I raped you,' has been detained in France after a three-year search.
Captain John Tavares scored 15 seconds into overtime and saved his teammates some embarrassment as Canada held on for a 6-5 win over Austria on Tuesday at the world hockey championship.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.