On September 24, MUNFA, along with partners in the Campus Coalition, hosted a public town hall on post-secondary education. All party leaders were invited to attend; however, instead of the leaders, Bernard Davis (Liberal Party and Minister of Education), Darrell Hynes (PC candidate for Mount Scio), and Laurabel Mba (NDP candidate for Mount Scio) participated on their behalf.
Watch the full town hall on YouTube
Following this event, on October 7, MUNFA wrote directly to all party leaders in Newfoundland and Labrador to request clear commitments on university funding, governance, and educator support.
MUNFA Letter to Party Leaders
Dear Premier Hogan/ Jim Dinn / Tony Wakeham,
RE: Provincial Election 2025
We are writing on behalf of the Memorial University Faculty Association (MUNFA), representing more than 800 Academic Staff Members at Memorial University. We educate and support the youth of this province, including the next generation of physicians, nurses, engineers, psychologists, social workers, teachers, pharmacists, and other professionals vital to Newfoundland and Labrador’s communities and economy.
In late September, MUNFA and our partners in the Campus Coalition invited all party leaders to participate in a public town hall on post-secondary Education. None attended in person, and delegates were sent on your behalf. Shortly afterward, the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association (NLTA) issued a public statement noting that the Premier and the Leader of the Official Opposition had declined to participate in their traditional Leaders’ Forum on Education.
These missed opportunities for direct discussion with educators are troubling. They reflect a growing disconnect between political leaders and the educators who experience firsthand the realities of our classrooms, campuses, and research spaces. Newfoundland and Labrador’s success is a shared responsibility, and it depends on open and informed dialogue about Education and public investment from K-12 through university.
We clearly recall when the provincial government advocated for public post-secondary education. They invested in it with pride as a concrete investment in the people and future of our province, positioning us among Canada’s top-funded institutions. In that era, students could graduate with minimal debt, and Memorial University thrived as a powerful engine of opportunity and innovation, a model we believe can and must be revitalized.
The investment in education brought many returns to the province. A 2021 economic impact assessment indicated that approximately 66,600 alumni of Memorial live in Newfoundland and Labrador. Every year, they produce an extra income of $1.37 billion due to their Memorial Education. This extra income creates a ripple effect, contributing $2.06 billion to the province’s GDP. Moreover, Memorial University is also the fourth largest employer in the province. These figures show that public education investment strengthens the economy, supports communities, and builds a more sustainable future for Newfoundland and Labrador.
Educators remain ready to play a critical role in addressing gaps in health care, social services, and emerging industries. However, addressing these areas effectively requires government partners who demonstrate a genuine commitment to listening. We need engagement through transparent consultation and action in good faith to support the provinces only University.
Since no education-focused events this election season have included direct participation from party leaders, we are reaching out to you directly with three questions:
1. Will your party commit to maintaining Memorial University as a comprehensive public university that is adequately funded to sustain high-quality teaching, research, and community engagement across all campuses, including the Grenfell and Labrador campuses? If so, what concrete plan will your party put forward to achieve this commitment?
2. Will you commit to opening the Memorial University Act for review to modernize governance and ensure that members of the university community are prioritized in appointments to the Board of Regents?
3. What concrete measures will your party implement to support Newfoundland and Labrador’s educators, thereby empowering them to continue preparing students who are essential drivers of economic growth, innovation, and community development?
MUNFA will share all responses with our members as they prepare to head to the polls. We would also welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these matters further. Please feel free to contact us at munfa@mun.ca.
Sincerely,
Dr. Lisa Moores, R.Psych.
MUNFA President.
NL NDP Response
October 8, 2025
Dear Dr. Moores,
Thank you for sending us your election survey on education. As an educator of over thirty years and former President of the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association (NLTA), education is a subject that I care about deeply. Like you, I understand the value of quality, accessible education through all stages of life. That is why I and the NL NDP treat it as an investment in the future. I hope that my commitment is evident in the answers I provide to your questions below.
Will your party commit to maintaining Memorial University as a comprehensive public university that is adequately funded to sustain high-quality teaching, research, and community engagement across all campuses, including the Grenfell and Labrador campuses? If so, what concrete plan will your party put forward to achieve this commitment?
An NL NDP will maintain Memorial University (MUN) as a comprehensive public university. We also commit to ensuring that post-secondary education is affordable and accessible to everyone who wants to pursue it. That is why we will reduce tuition to pre-2022 levels and keep it there. We will restore the Tuition Offset Grant to ensure that the university does not lose any funding as a result of this. Our government will also pledge to work with the University to come up with a credible, solid plan for managing its capital assets and operating budgets going forward, helping to reduce budgetary pressures.
Will you commit to opening the Memorial University Act for review to modernize governance and ensure that members of the university community are prioritized in appointments to the Board of Regents?
We pledge to work with the faculty and students of the University in opening up the Act to modernize its governance. New Democrats believe that inclusive governance results in better decision-making because the people affected by the choices made are able to contribute to them. Based on that principle, we would collaborate meaningfully with the university and other stakeholders to determine the best way to make governance at MUN more effective, transparent, and accountable.
What concrete measures will your party implement to support Newfoundland and Labrador’s educators, thereby empowering them to continue preparing students who are essential drivers of economic growth, innovation, and community development?
Our party has a number of policies that would help address systemic problems in the education system. These include:
● Overhauling our $10/day childcare program by attracting more Early Childhood Educators into the system, offering them better benefits and a pension – opening more spaces and saving families up to $6,300 per child;
● Investing $10 million in new annual funding for the College of the North Atlantic – expanding seats in high-demand trades programs to train more skilled workers and meet the needs of a growing economy;
● Collaborating with Indigenous governments, communities, and organizations to support the success of every child and promote equal access to quality education for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students;
● Bringing in paid work terms for all education students working in the public sector – valuing their contributions and encouraging more people to enter the profession; and
● Hiring 200 additional student and teaching assistants for the K–12 system – giving every child the support they need to succeed and the best possible start in life.
In my response to the survey from the NLTA, I also highlighted additional actions that an NL NDP government will take to improve education outcomes and working conditions for teachers. I encourage you to read my full response here: https://www.nlta.nl.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/25-020-Provincial-Election-Bulletin-2025-Final.pdf. I would like to highlight just a few of those commitments here:
● Working with the NLTA to develop a plan to eliminate the practice of half-time, quarter time, or fractional positions;
● Considering a signing or retention bonus for teachers who choose to work in a rural or hard to fill position for five years, as well as for those who already work at the schools;
● Ensuring adequate affordable housing for teachers who take jobs in rural positions; and
● Collaborating with the NLTA to address the issue of class composition and class size, eliminating or reducing supervision duty, and assess clerical support staff levels to reduce administrative burden on teachers.
Once again, I thank you for your questionnaire and for your work to keep education in the public eye during this election campaign.
Sincerely,
Jim Dinn
Leader, NL NDP, Candidate, St. John’s Centre
NL Liberal Party Response
Dear Dr. Moores,
Thank you for your letter dated October 7th.
Memorial University is of significant value to Newfoundland and Labrador, both economically and socially, and plays an important role in shaping our province’s future.
While MUN is an autonomous organization and is responsible for its fiscal policies, the Provincial Government has a role to play in helping to ensure the success of
Newfoundland and Labrador’s only university. The province provides more than $400 million total investment in Memorial University. This annual investment makes up more than 70 per cent of Memorial’s operating budget and is one of the largest provincial contributions to a public university in Canada.
We recognize that Memorial University is facing some financial challenges, and Budget 2025 included measures to help reduce its financial pressures. They included providing a holiday on the $13.68 million reduction in core operating funding; pausing their repayment to government of $70 million over the next eight years to help with deferred maintenance; and continuing the offset of students’ Campus Renewal Fee with an investment of $7.8 million.
A re-elected Liberal Government will continue to be committed to Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Despite the financial challenges being faced by universities across the country, these are still exciting times for Memorial University. A new President was hired in 2025, and we understand that a new strategic enrollment plan is anticipated this Fall.
Our province is on the edge of some exciting opportunities as we move closer to finalizing the Churchill River MOU with Quebec, and our university and colleges will be essential in realizing our full potential.
As Leader of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador I am committed to continuing to build on our strong relationship with Memorial University and to working collaboratively on a strategic and sustainable path forward.
Sincerely,
John Hogan, Leader
Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Progressive Conservative Party NL response
Dear Dr. Moores:
Thank you for writing on behalf of the Memorial University Faculty Association to seek our responses to three questions of concern to the 800 Academic Staff members you represent. Let me assure you – and all educators, students and the general public of Newfoundland and Labrador – that the Progressive Conservative Party’s commitment to improving education in our province is rock solid. Education is the bedrock – the means by which we prepare our people and communities to make the most of the tremendous opportunities before us. But right now, most would agree that the system is suffering badly from neglect and poor planning. People are concerned by weaknesses that have appeared all along the continuum of our province’s education system – the lack of access to early childhood education, the stress and violence impacting everyone in our K-12 system, and the major stresses challenging students and educators in our postsecondary education. There are many ideas about what to do to address those challenges, but nothing will change unless we actually get moving on solutions, working together, with a healthy relationship and a shared focus.
Let me address your three questions one by one.
Will your party commit to maintaining Memorial University as a comprehensive public university that is adequately funded to sustain high-quality teaching, research, and community engagement across all campuses, including the Grenfell and Labrador campuses? If so, what concrete plan will your party put forward to achieve this commitment?
Yes, the PC Party commits to maintaining Memorial University as a comprehensive public university that is adequately funded to sustain high-quality teaching, research, and community engagement across all campuses, including the Grenfell and Labrador campuses. We believe that a well-rounded education system will best prepare our people to expand the province’s economy, rejuvenate rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and bring new industries into our province. Education can help reduce our province’s poverty rate, increase population health, and create a stronger community social safety net. Memorial must continue to be a driver of innovation, diversification, development, immigration, healthier communities, and so much more. It is not just another educational institution. Its role is so much greater than that.
Our blueprint’s postsecondary education policy outlines some of what we will do.
● We will require Memorial University to be fiscally responsible with the funding it receives. We will not allow MUN to balance its books on the backs of students. We will not allow MUN to expand its footprint or increase tuition until it ends administrative bloat, resolves outstanding critical maintenance, and returns its focus to students.
● We will put money back in the pockets of graduates. Graduates who stay, work, and live in this province will receive their tuition back. This point is particularly important as it will help us to grow this province and strengthen our workforce.
● We will immediately launch a review of tuition and fees at Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic, including the provincial student loans and grant programs.
● We will break down barriers to education by ensuring post-secondary programming is available to students of all regions of the province in a manner that is cost effective. This will be done utilizing distance education and by matching the offerings of the College of the North Atlantic with labour market needs in the regions.
● We will align new post-secondary offerings with future labour market needs, forecasting future labour shortages and adjusting class sizes in advance of these shortages to respond more expeditiously to changing labour market needs.
But this is just the framework for improving access and tailoring programs to our needs. We want to work in full and open collaboration with MUNFA and others throughout the Memorial and postsecondary communities on real actions to address the pressure points that are putting education at risk. My government will not take a top-down approach, nor will we keep going back to the drawing board to avoid taking real action. We need to agree on the choices required to fix things, prioritize our actions, and collaborate to address the greatest needs. I am offering to work with you on real solutions that we can be implementing now, priority by priority. I am listening.
Will you commit to opening the Memorial University Act for review to modernize governance and ensure that members of the university community are prioritized in appointments to the Board of Regents?
I understand why you are asking this question. Administration of Memorial University has been a sore point for several years now, and MUNFA is not the only group concerned about its voice not being properly heard. Students are also deeply concerned, and so is the general public. Let me be clear: a university must function autonomously when it comes to safeguarding academic freedom and maintaining its academic integrity. When there are breakdowns in administrative accountability, there is a role for the people of the province to play in raising the bar on accountability. Memorial operates under the authority of the Memorial University Act. This is the province’s university and the people, specifically the Memorial Community, have a role in establishing its mandate and defining its purpose to lead our province forward. If this legislation needs updating, we have an obligation to move on this collaboratively, not by imposing solutions from the outside or the top down. The legislation dictates the composition of the Board of Regents, which has a phenomenal impact on how the university functions. We have to ensure that any changes to the Board of Regents are made in an atmosphere of collaboration and harmony, so the autonomy of the university is safeguarded and the student focus on the University is prioritized. Together, we can make our university stronger, more accountable, fiscally responsible, and more effective in driving Newfoundland and Labrador forward.
What concrete measures will your party implement to support Newfoundland and Labrador’s educators, thereby empowering them to continue preparing students who are essential drivers of economic growth, innovation, and community development?
Again, let me emphasize how important it is that we work collaboratively on all matters related to education at Memorial University. A top-down approach will not work.
We are focused on improving the working lives of educators at every level. In early childhood education, we will establish a permanent advisory panel of operators and care providers, reduce paperwork, and promote access to pensions and paid sick leave. In K-12, we will hire and retain more teachers, reduce class sizes, address school violence, and improve mental health and classroom support. We will stop splitting positions beyond half-time, train more teachers locally, and increase supports for student and teaching assistants. We will expand access to school psychologists, strengthen inclusive education, and help students prepare for skilled trades through pre-apprenticeship programs.
I commend MUNFA for your tremendous work educating and supporting Newfoundland and Labrador’s youth. You help shape the next generation of professionals and strengthen communities across our province, highlighting challenges, opportunities, and solutions that move us forward.
I look forward to working with you in the years to come as we take on the challenges before us, improve our education system, grow our economy and raise the standard of living for our people. Let us commit to regular engagement on the issues that concern us, and open lines of effective communication. We can make huge progress on the goals we share by remaining in touch and working together. I am here for you.
Sincerely,
Tony Wakeham
Leader Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador
