Governments display their actual intentions, rather than their rhetoric, when you look at how they direct our tax-dollars.  In Ontario 2/3 of the post-secondary education funding is directed towards supporting university students through seat grants, and the remaining 1/3 is directed towards the colleges and the apprenticeship system.  Here's some facts:

Ontario colleges are the most poorly funded in the country (compared to all other provinces).

The government grants $6200/yr/student to colleges, $8300/yr/student to universities, and $12,000/yr/student to high-schools.  (Not including college tuition capped at $2400 and university tuition capped at over $6000.)

The per diem funding for apprenticeship students has decreased by 20% in real dollars over the past 15-years.

The Ontario government will talk big but they really don't care about applied education.