Martin Regg Cohn: Ontario students are left paying for Doug Ford’s funding fumble - Toronto Star

The scandal engulfing Ford’s government over rogue private colleges is a teachable moment, Martin Regg Cohn writes.

Premier Doug Ford speaks at a news conference in Toronto on Sept. 16, 2026.

Martin Regg Cohn is a Toronto-based columnist focusing on Ontario politics and international affairs for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @reggcohn.

The scandal engulfing Doug Ford’s government over rogue private colleges has been gestating ever since the premier took power in 2018.

Today, eight long years later, it remains a teachable moment.

The story so far, if you listen to the premier, can be explained by bad apples bilking the system. But Ford has the blame game backwards.

The bad apples are just the symptoms. It’s the system that’s been badly broken ever since the premier presided over it.

How students in different situations are coping with the sudden loss of access to student aid.