Government Stifles Innovation in Canada by Shutting Down Coding School in Toronto

Coding is by most measures a young profession, and as such as been largely neglected by most traditional schools. That’s why across North America and elsewhere around the world, learn-to-code programs are raging against the status-quo education system, transforming wannabe coders into professional developers during intensive bootcamps that mimic a difficult semester course at school.

In Toronto is Bitmaker Labs, one of Canada’s most prominent coding schools. Or at least it was, before the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and University got involved.

Bitmaker issued the following statement online:

“The MTCU is concerned with the vocational nature of our program and lack of proper government oversight. Our lawyers have advised us that, to preempt any possible cease and desist order which could negatively impact our ability to teach going forward, we must discontinue operating our web development program immediately.”

In a counter statement, the MTCU suggested it never requested Bitmaker to cease its program offering.

“Ontario’s Superintendent of Private Career Colleges is conducting an independent inquiry into the program offered by Bitmaker Labs. No determination has been made regarding the program, no enforcement action has been taken against Bitmaker Labs and the Ministry has not requested that Bitmaker Labs cease offering its program,” the MTCU told ReadWrite.

SEE ALSO: How to Become a Web Developer in Nine Weeks

In the US, unregulated coding acadamies are legal. However, in Canada, all training facilities must operate with a government license.

Bitmaker cofounder Matt Gray expressed deep disappointment to ReadWrite: “How is Toronto going to stay competitive on the global tech scene?” he asked. “It’s like the government is stifling innovation.”

Other similar programs that are also under investigation by Canadian government entities include Ladies Learning Code and HackerYou, according to Gray.

Update: Ladies Learning Code Founder Heather Payne has contacted Techvibes to let us know that “neither HackerYou or Ladies Learning Code are currently being investigated.”