Conestoga is now a financial basket case

Conestoga's 25/26 Financial Statement

From 2025 to 2026 Conestoga College has become a financial disaster:

• Assets 2025 = $617 million; Assets 2026 = $329 million (down $288 mil)
• Revenues 2025 = $799 million; Revenues 2026 = $444 million (down $355 mil)
• Surplus 2025 = $122 million; Deficit 2026 = -$33 million (down $155 mil)

In September 2023, the former president John Tibbits proudly declared, "It won't be long, we'll be a $1-billion corporation," in a speech defending the college's international student growth strategy. He was presented with the Kitchener-Waterloo Citizen of the Year award the same year.

In December 2024 Tibbits informed staff that the college was in "solid shape".

In January he retired and it was later revealed that he was granted somewhere between $3 and $4 million as a retirement bonus. This past May the college was taken over by the province due to "serious financial mismanagement".

(Oh, how the mighty have fallen. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.)

The college needs to immediately divest itself from Tibbits' vanity projects such as the new corporate offices on King Street, the 'research lab' in Galt, and the recent real estate acquisitions. Then, seriously thin the ranks of the bloated executive management team (e.g., 40 Directors!).

It will take a generation to rebuild the trust in the community for this once respected institution.