Local leaders voice concerns about closure of Algonquin College’s Perth campus

Local leaders are pushing back against the planned closure of Algonquin College’s Perth campus, warning of severe educational and economic consequences for the town.
Three weeks ago, Algonquin College president Claude Brulé announced the Perth campus would close in August 2026, sparking widespread shock and concern from the college community, alumni and Perth residents.
Brulé attributed the closure to “unprecedented financial challenges,” citing changes made by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada last November, impacting international student enrolment starting in the fall 2025 semester.
In a written statement to the Algonquin Times, Perth Mayor Judy Brown said, “Perth is home not only to current students but graduates of the Perth campus who have strong ties to both the institution and the town.”
Brown said Brulé met with town staff before the college’s announcement but has “had limited communication since then.”
According to the mayor, the college has “focused our efforts on exploring opportunities to push for the campus to remain open.”
In a Jan. 15 news release, Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston MPP John Jordan also wrote of exploring “all avenues of discussion regarding the potential for increasing enrolment in a historically unique, but geographically challenging location.”
The final decision to close the campus will come on Feb. 24 during Algonquin College’s Board of Governors meeting.

Much of the attention revolving around the closure has focused on the campus’ heritage carpentry and joinery program, which has long carried a strong connection to the town’s traditions of heritage conservation.
Jordan described the program as a unique opportunity for a specialized market, confident that through collaborating with the college, “we can find a sustainable path forward despite the current setbacks.”
However, Perth councillor and Heritage Perth Advisory Panel member Dave Bird is less optimistic. He warns against losing the campus and its educational opportunities.
“The loss of the program as well as the college itself can only damage the already limited communal knowledge of our forebears’ skills, while decreasing the ability to repair, replicate or reproduce heritage structures in the future,” Bird said.
“Algonquin College in Perth (provides) practical learning that is not provided in ‘higher’ levels in academia, and their loss is lamentable and shortsighted.”
According to Isabel McRae, a councillor and board member of the local Business Improvement Area (BIA) Board of Management, education won’t be the only loss Perth stands to face.
Perth may not own the campus but it has invested heavily in its success, contributing $1 million to its 2011 rebuild. In turn, the community relies on the campus as an economic driver.
McRae said the college is so embedded within the town, the loss will be “extremely difficult to measure.”
“Students require goods and services,” she said. “They frequent our fast-food establishments, restaurants and use many of our services within the BIA, as do their families when they visit.
“Most likely, we will not totally understand or feel the sting and negative impact until our community college is gone.”
According to the 2021 census from Statistics Canada, Perth had a population of 6,469. Forty per cent of Perth residents were 65 years and older.
The census also reported 48 per cent of the population moving away from Perth in 2020, a rise of nine per cent above the national average.
Community members and school alumni like Willa Murray and Braeden Suggitt argue that the college creates an influx of young, educated workers in Perth, while providing a post-secondary option for the town.
Suggitt, an alumnus of the heritage carpentry program, started an online petition following the closure news. Named “Save Algonquin College Perth Campus,” the petition has since collected over 2,000 signatures.
Grassroots movements like Suggitts’ to advocate for the school is “encouraging,” said Brown.
Brown encouraged concerned Perth residents and the wider Lanark County to sign the petition and continue addressing their concerns to Algonquin College’s Board of Governors and Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities.