The federal and provincial governments have been underfunding universities for decades. Recently, universities were able to start recruiting foreign students to make up for the shortfall, but it looks like that money tap will be turned down. It doesn't look like there's a plan to make up for it.
At the same time, the feds want to
recruit more than 1,000 top international researchers to Canada, with the budget injecting up to $1.7-billion into a suite of recruitment measures.
That'll be tough if universities see their income crater.
It actually can be for many due to bursaries and very very easy to pay off loans. Few locals graduate with debt.
[citation required]
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3710003601&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.6&pickMembers%5B1%5D=3.1&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2000&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2020&referencePeriods=20000101%2C20200101
The amounts are more than I expected but it doesn't breakdown by if the student is local, national, or international which matters. Figures however are not very high in terms of overall debt burden compared to the US and they are lower than the national figures
I don't know anyone who graduated without debt and I know several people struggling to deal with their student loans, which don't even go away with bankruptcy.
Are you here in Québec?