Quebec student protests

I haven't seen anything on this subject yet, although it's been going on for 12 weeks...

In Quebec, students have been protesting a rise in University fees. University fees in Quebec are the lowest in Canada. The current liberal governement of John (Jean) Charest decided to raise fees starting next fall. Students voted for a strike to protest and it's been going on for 12 weeks!

It took 10 weeks for the government to accept to negociate. First thing they did was throw out the representative from one of the student associations, claiming he incited his members towards violence. The governement eventually came back with an offer which increased fees even more!

I agree that there has been some violence on the student side; although most of it came from non-students using the protests an excuse for rioting, but mostly the students have been orderly.

This weekend, the governement is holding a party congress, they moved from Montreal to a smaller city, Victoriaville. Of course, the protests have followed...

On this link you can see photos of last night's protests. I appologize that the video and text are in French, I've so far been unable to find neutral English-language articles. Some English Canadian media claim that this is organized by communists, feminists, etc... There are no communists to speak of in Quebec, and feminism is not an issue in this conflict.

What started off as a protest against increasing university fees has become a social issue, reflecting much more of what's going on in the Quebec society. The population is unsatisfaction rate with the government is 76%. There will be an election in the coming year. Some think it will happen over the next few weeks because of the student protests (more people are against the students than for them), thus giving the government a chance at being re-elected. A commission on construction will be starting up this fall which will be exposing a lot of the corruption in the Charest governement; everybody knows about it, some things have become public, more will come out, thus the governement stands no chance at re-election in the fall.

As for myself, I support the students 100% and am proud that they haven't given up. In April, my wife and I attended a concert in downtown Montreal. During the break, we went outside for a smoke. After about 10 minutes, the cops were at the corner of the street dispelling an "illegal" protest (since when is protesting illegal in a democracy?). The cops were loud and violent. Until they came, we hadn't even realized there was a protest. That tells you how loud and violent the students were.

The right wing is trying to turn this into a false debate about money. They use the fact that only 1/3 of students are on strike. You know as well as I do that if 1/3 of the students are in the streets every single day, it means that you have at least another 1/3 supporting them. And they are joined by teachers, oppostiion party members and other people.

reply to post by ajmusicmedia


a very interesting social event, it's easy to have sympathy with the students when dealing with such a corupt society.

but with 5 political parties in Quebec, the ruling liberals may win again making the students' hopes no more than a cry in the wilderness.

but i wish them well, the optimism of youth against the forteress of coruption.

WOW, didn't even know such an event was taking place and am 100% on the side of the students. This is outrageous they want to make education for the rich only, when it should be all free, Venus Project. Outrageous to watch a small group of SS police holding back so many.

To Quebec's leaders, get it together and start working as the servants of the people you are.

Originally posted by citizen6511
reply to post by ajmusicmedia

 

a very interesting social event, it's easy to have sympathy with the students when dealing with such a corupt society.

but with 5 political parties in Quebec, the ruling liberals may win again making the students' hopes no more than a cry in the wilderness.

but i wish them well, the optimism of youth against the forteress of coruption.

Just a slight correction; there are 3 major parties and a fourth that has only one MP and are not contenders. Of course, the current government has used this to its advantage to stay in power for 12 years...

New development:

there seems to have been an agreement between the government and the student leaders after a 24 hour negotiation session. We will know more this evening about the content. Students will be voting next week.

They are talking about a curfew on TV
or bringing the army to protect the important building

the protest are not only in the day but also during the night
it is very organise and they will not bow down until Charest do something about it

I have deliberately not viewed any tapes of this, because I feel betrayed by the government and am not living close enough to the scene any more.

I can say this though. In Quebec there has for years been a cultural respect and a high value and emphasis placed on education. It began with a classical education in letters and slowly moved into the sciences. It is and was socially cool to be studying something at any age. The government made it affordable and desirable to study. Salaries were lower in Quebec. I should know. I have worked there as well as in four other provinces. So sibsidized universities were at the heart of the culture.

I got my undergrad B.Sc. at a cost of fifty dollars per course there, commuting from another province because it was well worth it. The studies were all in French however and there was absolutely no mercy shown for a typo, costing us 5% per error. My children who studied in Ontario paid per semester what my entire degree cost me, and they entered higher education the year after I did.

Ontario universities were much more expensive and offered little or no flexibility of choice in comparison. I was able to register for 2 or 3 courses per session without having to resort to the debt culture of the student loan industry and mentality, and I will be forever grateful for that, because it truly was a huge deal.

So I sincerely thank and support the demonstrating students. I just heard that one of the demonstrators lost an eye and another is in a coma after events in Victoriaville. I feel very sad about this.

**************Update**************

It seems the new agreement is that the increase in fees will happen, but there will be other countermeasures to ensure that everyone has access to University. There aren't that many details released yet as the students need to see the offer first. They will be voting on it throughout the week.

www.huffingtonpost.ca...

"It's time for calm to be restored," Charest said Wednesday at a podium, flanked by several rectors and university-association officials. "Access to education is a right. Nobody can pretend to defend access to education and then block the doors of a CEGEP or university." "The current situation has lasted too long... Quebecers have a right to live in security." Polls suggest Charest's unpopular government, facing a longshot re-election bid, might actually have public support for its tuition hikes. But the premier has responded angrily in recent weeks when accused of encouraging a climate of confrontation for his own political benefit. Bracing for more of that criticism, the Charest government has bought ads in Thursday's newspapers explaining how it has already made several adjustments to its tuition plans to soften the impact on the poorest students. The ads emphasize another point Charest is keen for people to understand: 70 per cent of Quebec students have quietly finished their semester and aren't even striking.

Update on issue.

Tonight it is nuts in Montreal.

Molotov cocktails launched at Montreal protest following Quebec crackdown law

And LIVE Feed

reply to post by ajmusicmedia


being as that the price of and education is going through the roof and no one can really afford to pay for it on credit -aka loans at insane compounding interest rates .even a paltry 3.5% rates equals to 30% INTEREST RATE PER PAYMENT ,i`d say you just bought a house for nothing .
who can afford it any longer - so why does every student in the world take a 2 year sabbatical from school -college and university. then when they call in the loans for your education all of you need to declare BANKRUPTCY and the creditors and the schools get what they deserve NOTHING.
remember they lent you the money for and education which you never got and they are not entitled to payment as there are no jobs out here so use the system WELFARE .this should take care of the BANKS ,SCHOOLS AND GOVERNMENT INEPTNESS.

I live in Canada and am familiar with the costs of education province to province.
Tuition in la belle province is the lowest in the country.
Just a point of clarification on this subject:

One has to be employed to have a strike.
The students are not employees of the province.
They are buying a service, ie. education.
If they don't like the costs, they are free to not buy said product.
At present, they have trashed not only property, but the term of those students who want to attend classes they paid for, but are barred from entering the schools by these "striker".

Charest and his cabinet are fools for playing the game, they should have trounced the lot of them at the outset.