There was a lot of controversy about the Varsity levy at St. George campus recently. The controversy was over a vote to increase the Athletics incidental fees to pay for athletics facilities (mainly the bubble located on the varsity field). A student plebiscite on the issue just barely passed by a few percentage points recently (with the referendum committee voting to throw out the results of the referendum due to violation of spending limits by the yes side, the varsity administrators) and students will now pay an additional incidental fee for yet another athletics building project, the famous bubble.

But was there really a need for this levy when the government is now scheduled to announce that it will be making a “major investment” into UofT athletic facilities. Did UofT administration know of this prior to the referendum? Somebody must have been lobbying for this government investment, they don’t grow on trees. I am fairly certain that if the Ontario Health Promotion minister had made this announcement a little earlier, that referendum would have failed and students would not be paying an additional levy for something the government should rightly be financing. An interesting and ironic twist the multi-year athletics funding story that has polarized and divided so many over the years. On the bright side, all the plebiscite fuss and new government funding might actually deter major fee increases to fund capital projects, at least in the near future. Here is the announcement covered in the Globe:

U of T pitches in to develop top athletes

The University of Toronto is stepping back into the ring as a major player in the development of high-performance athletes. Ontario Health Promotion minister Margaret Best is scheduled to announce “a major investment” at the school’s field house this morning, aimed at providing top facilities and sport services to Ontario-based athletes. Crumbling sport infrastructure in the province has led to a dwindling representation on national and Olympic teams. Later, Best, Chris Rudge, chief executive officer of the Canadian Olympic Committee and 1936 flagbearer James Worrall will welcome a procession of U of T Olympians through the years to the new Varsity Dome. The school is pursuing provincial, federal and corporate funds to establish the Goldring Centre for High Performance.