Union leaders call to strip John Tibbits’ name from Conestoga College building

Community members are calling for John Tibbits’ name to be removed from a Conestoga College building. CTV’s Heather Senoran reports.

John Tibbits is no longer with Conestoga College and now some union leaders are calling for his name to be taken off a school building.

The Waterloo campus was named the “John Tibbits Campus” when it opened in 2018.

But in the years since, Tibbits has been the focal point for several controversies. Most recently, the province stepped in and fired the school’s board of governors after an audit revealed concerns about significant financial misuse. Specifically, the province cited Tibbits’ salary as one of the problems at the school.

“A 55 per cent increase in [Tibbits’] take home salary year-over-year from 2024 to 2025 is egregious. Over $630,000 annually. And then that triggered an audit,” Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, said on Thursday.

• Administrator appointed to Conestoga College after audit uncovers ‘egregious financial decisions’

John Tibbits served as Conestoga College’s president from 1987 until January 2026. At the end of his almost 40-year tenure, the province said he received an exit package worth 83 times his monthly salary.

“It hurts to drive past that building”

Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 238 represents support staff at the school. Union president Vikki Poirier said she wasn’t surprised by the findings in the audit, but she is disappointed nonetheless.

“Disgusted. At the level and the amount of deceit,” she said.

Poirier said her members are demanding Tibbits’ name be stripped from the building.

“He doesn’t deserve to have his name on that building,” she said.

Poirier said many employees that she has spoken with are no longer proud to work at the college, but she hopes that can change.

“The removal of his name from that building is a small part of the healing process,” Poirier said.

Poirier isn’t the only one who wants to see change.

“It hurts to drive past that building and see his name up there,” Waterloo resident Bill Waters said. His son is a Conestoga College graduate.

“To me, that is praising someone who destroyed the quality of education at Conestoga College.”

Leopold Koff, president of OPSEU Local 237, the union that represents full time faculty, believes putting Tibbits’ name on the building was a mistake in the first place.

“How much money did we lose by naming the campus after him?” Koff questioned. “Because normally, when we have naming rights for a building, there’s a sponsorship amount that’s given to the college for the privilege and right.”

“It’s not an easy process”

Deputy director at University of Waterloo’s school of accounting and finance, Darren Charters, said, generally, it is wise for any organization to be cautious when naming a building after a person.

“Things come up, whether it’s in the background of the individual or just the context. The societal context changes,” Charters said.

He warned the legal process to change a name can be lengthy.

“It’s not an easy process. It’s fair to say it’s a governance process. It’s a legal process to undo it. There could be layers to that legal process,” he explained.

Conestoga College has not commented on whether a name change is being considered.