Québec Bill 96/Bill 15 Education

27-28 November
Tuition hike will cost Quebec $35 million, deprive local students of aid: McGill
“With this measure, the government is trying to save $46.6 million, but the impact of that is that the province and its economy will lose more than $80 million.”
“With this measure, the government is trying to save $46.6 million, but the impact of that is that the province and its economy will lose more than $80 million,” Fabrice Labeau, McGill’s deputy provost of student life and learning, said in an interview Monday.
Tuition hike puts McGill, Concordia in financial peril, Moody’s warns
Changes are “credit negative” and could weaken “the reputation and strategic brand of both universities by materially altering the compositions of students.”

25 November
Opinion: Quebec should heed U.S. lessons on tuition hikes
Richard Aberle
By sharply increasing the cost to out-of-state and international students, American public universities have become more insular, and class divisions have been exacerbated, writes U.S.-born Richard Aberle, who first arrived at McGill in 1997, drawn by “the chance to study at an English-language university while being immersed in French-Canadian culture.”
When I decided to enrol at McGill University as a doctoral student in English literature, I was drawn to its prestige as one of the world’s great universities. Although rankings are, at best, unreliable and highly subjective measures, when I entered McGill, in 1997, The Times of London ranked McGill as the eighth-best university in the world.
…those students who leave Quebec do so having lived in Montreal for three, four or more years in a fully immersive experience. Many would not otherwise have studied French had they not enrolled in Quebec; those who leave do so with a much keener sense of the needs and perspectives of francophone culture.
Because McGill produces so many leaders in so many fields, its graduates have a disproportionate ability to influence how others perceive Quebec. If anything, Quebec’s investment in its anglophone universities provides an army of ambassadors who sell the province’s best features to others who may overlook what it has to offer.
My influence individually is quite small, but my frequent treks with friends and family to Montreal, my support of several Quebec artistic and cultural institutions, and my participation in and encouragement of more nuanced dialogue with non-Quebecers regarding the significance of language and culture are all directly the result of my having lived in Montreal for three years as a student at McGill.
In raising tuition drastically for non-Quebec students, the province risks making the same mistake state governments in the U.S. have made in raising out-of-state tuition at public universities. By sharply increasing the cost to out-of-state and international students, American public universities have become more insular: red states get redder, blue states bluer, and the political divide in America becomes a deeper chasm.

24 November
Concordia University tells departments to slash budgets by 7.8 per cent
The school says it “cannot meet its core operating costs, which consist mostly of salaries and the day-to-day operations that support teaching, research and student life.”

Robert Libman: Legault in a jam against teachers and nurses
In the PR war for Quebecers’ support, the premier has shot himself in the foot with recent decisions that have damaged his credibility.
… The quality of our critical education and health care sectors and their ability to attract qualified personnel cannot afford to be weakened any further; otherwise, there is a risk of creating more social and economic damage. Employees who feel more valued are more productive. Investing in a more motivated public workforce — instead of one that feels cheated and underpaid — will pay long-term dividends. This trickle-down economic effect far outweighs the cost of current salary demands.

22 November
“Financially, it would be catastrophic”: A university principal on Quebec’s tuition hikes
Sébastien Lebel-Grenier, principal and vice-chancellor at Bishop’s University, says that Bishop’s could lose 90 per cent of its out-of-province students—forcing the university to slash a quarter of its budget

15 November
Paul Wells‘ podcast with Graham Carr of Concordia (with transcript)
Quebec’s tuition bombshell – Concordia University’s president on a “bean ball” from the premier
Canadian and international media blast tuition hike at Quebec’s anglo universities
From Canadian newspapers to American and British higher-education publications, Quebec’s tuition overhaul is making waves outside the province.
The media coverage comes as critics warn the plan harms Montreal’s reputation as a global university hub and sends a hostile message to non-Quebec students.

10 November
Monsieur Legault, voici une solution honorable
Stéphanie Grammond, éditorialiste en chef de La Presse
Comme on le disait d’entrée de jeu, il existe une voie de passage élégante pour tout le monde, une solution à deux piliers qui répondrait aux préoccupations de la CAQ.
Parlons d’abord du financement.
Au lieu de doubler les droits pour tous les étudiants des autres provinces, Québec pourrait adopter une tarification différenciée en fonction des programmes, comme c’est déjà le cas dans les autres provinces.
De cette façon, Québec respecterait le principe fondamental de réciprocité avec les autres provinces, sans nuire à l’attractivité des universités québécoises. Les prix refléteraient tout simplement la logique du marché.
Ainsi, Québec pourrait maintenir son tarif actuel de 9000 $ dans un bon nombre de programmes, mais exiger 12 000 $ en génie, 14 000 $ en administration ou encore 25 000 $ en médecine et en droit, par exemple.
Discutons maintenant du français. …

Quebec unmoved by English universities’ plea to cancel tuition hike
McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s Universities are proposing new mandatory French-as-a-second-language courses and other measures within the next three years.
Goal is to ensure at least 40% of students attain intermediate level of French
Quebec has indicated it would push forward with a tuition hike for out-of-province students despite an offer from the province’s English universities to teach them more French.
(CBC) The offer, which the heads of McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s universities presented on Monday, proposes several measures, including mandatory French-as-a-second-language courses, which they say will mean their graduates are better equipped to live and work in Quebec.
Later on Monday, Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry, who announced last month that tuition fees would double for out-of-province students from the rest of Canada — in part to reduce the decline of French in Quebec, said in a statement that her ministry was “delighted” to see the universities recognize the decline of the French language and offer more French instruction.
But there were no signs the government would change course.

‘The ball is in their court’: Quebec’s English universities made a historic proposal to Premier Legault in response to tuition hikes
(CJAD) Graham Carr, President and Vice-Chancellor of Concordia University
Quebec tuition: English universities make ‘historic proposal’ to Legault
In meeting with the premier Monday, Bishop’s, Concordia and McGill “committed to being an ally in terms of francizing the student population who don’t speak French on our campuses.”
Andy Riga
(Montreal Gazette) The trio urged Quebec to cancel a plan to double tuition for students from other provinces and go back to the drawing board on a new funding formula for international students.
Their overture came during a one-hour meeting on Monday with Premier François Legault and Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry in Montreal.
“We had a very frank exchange with Mr. Legault and we made certain proposals which are historic, which are unprecedented, and we are waiting for the government’s response,” McGill principal Deep Saini told reporters.
The anglophone institutions, Carr said, want “to make sure that more students coming from elsewhere feel integrated into Quebec society and linguistically proficient, and will therefore decide to stay in Quebec after graduation and contribute in a beneficial way to the growth of the Quebec economy, the growth of the Montreal economy and the development of Quebec society.”

3 November
Legault has systematically targeted English education since taking power
From kindergartens to universities, Premier François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec government has repeatedly targeted English-language education with measures that attempt to limit enrolment and put more control in the hands of provincial politicians and bureaucrats.
Andy Riga
At times, he has been influenced by his former party, the more nationalistic, pro-sovereignty Parti Québécois. The PQ’s recent Quebec City byelection win and strong polling numbers have alarmed the CAQ.
Legault’s education moves have sparked outrage and legal battles among anglophones worried about institutions whose vitality is seen as crucial to keeping young people — the community’s future — from leaving the province

30 October- 1 November
(QCGN Weekly update) Among those who waded into the tuition debate today was former federal Justice Minister David Lametti, also a former law professor at McGill. In a post on Linkedin, Lametti said he was “dumbfounded” by the “extreme tuition hikes” that will be disproportionately borne by McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s. He said the policy will do nothing to address chronic underfunding for Quebec universities, especially in francophone universities and do nothing to protect the French language. Furthermore, “it creates a huge impediment to attracting the best and the brightest to Quebec in a period when Quebec needs to attract and promote the best minds in the world for its research and innovation-industrial sectors to not be left behind by the green economic revolution. It is hard to conceive of a worse piece of economic and social policy.”
United we stand
Over 100 community leaders support Bishop’s at gathering in face of tuition hikes
In a show of support for Bishop’s University [BU], which is facing a governmental doubling of tuition – to $17,000 a year – for out-of-province students in 2024, over 100 local community leaders gathered for a press conference Oct. 31 in front of a packed crowd at Centennial Theatre. Student, political, educational, and business leaders took turns speaking in support of BU, punctuated by bouts of enthusiastic applause from well over 500 attendees.
Hundreds of Quebec university students protest against tuition hike
Among other chants, students shouted: “Education is a right, not just for the rich and white.”
The message? Students — past, present and future — are firmly against a proposed tuition hike that would see people from out of province pay nearly double to attend English universities in Quebec, as of fall 2024.

25-27 October
François Legault has concocted a threat to the French language that no one else can see
(Globe & Mail editorial board) This week, the heads of five French-language universities in Quebec, as well as two major francophone student groups, came out in opposition to the tuition increase, partly because they couldn’t see how it would protect the French language.
A columnist in Le Journal du Québec took the same position, and added that the fact that over half the province’s high-school students failed a standardized French spelling and grammar test in 2022 was a more pressing problem.

Le patron de la BMO inquiet pour l’économie du Québec
La crainte de la BMO est de voir une hausse des droits de scolarité décourager des étudiants de venir s’instruire dans les universités anglophones du Québec – les plus touchées par la mesure – et de surcroît dans le contexte actuel de pénurie de main-d’œuvre.
La hausse des droits de scolarité pour les étudiants venant de l’extérieur du Québec inquiète le patron de la Banque de Montréal, mais le ministre de l’Économie, Pierre Fitzgibbon, se range derrière la décision du gouvernement.
Opinion: An important debate on education takes an unfortunate turn
Daniel Jutras, Rector, Université de Montréal
(CTV) It is important to put some key issues into perspective: the tuition hikes and their likely impact, the reasons given for the increase, and some important considerations that have been ignored.
The university funding model in Quebec is complicated but the announced changes can be summed up in a few words.
The government will stop funding students from other provinces who come here to study at the undergraduate and professional master’s levels: as of the fall of 2024, new students will have to pay the full cost of their education. Many will choose to study elsewhere in Canada, where they will pay much less.
The government is also setting a minimum tuition fee for international students. The money it claws back will be distributed among universities according to a formula that has not yet been disclosed. Quebec universities were not consulted in advance about either of these measures.
French-language university heads criticize tuition hike for non-Quebec students
“Any measure that would put the very existence of a university at risk, or weaken it to the point of impairing it, must be excluded from the discussion,” the heads of Université de Montréal, Université Laval, Université de Sherbrooke, Polytechnique Montréal and HEC Montréal wrote in an open letter published in La Presse Wednesday.
Débat sur les droits de scolarité
Il faut mieux soutenir les universités d’ici
L’actuel débat sur la majoration des droits de scolarité des étudiants des autres provinces canadiennes occulte un enjeu majeur : notre réseau universitaire manque de moyens pour accomplir ses missions, écrivent les auteurs de cette lettre, à la tête d’établissements francophones importants du Québec.

Analysis: How Quebec tuition overhaul targets Bishop’s, Concordia and McGill
Many details are still up in the air, but here’s a guide to how Quebec plans to re-engineer its complicated tuition system for students from other provinces and other countries.
Andy Riga
The re-engineering of the system features many moving parts.
The Legault government wants to: collect more money from students from outside Quebec; discourage non-Quebec students from studying in English in Quebec; reduce the amount of money English universities get from non-Quebecers; and funnel more money to francophone universities.
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The plan has been criticized as misguided and harmful by Mayor Valérie Plante, Quebec business groups, anglophone rights groups, the federal Liberal government and some provincial opposition parties.
On the other end, the Parti Québécois and the heads of 10 francophone post-secondary institutions support the measures, arguing that French-language universities are severely underfunded.

Let’s debunk myths about Quebec’s tuition hikes
Oversimplifications abound but the situation is more nuanced. As president of Concordia University, I can set the record straight.
“Let’s avoid simplistic formulas that won’t help us tackle the real problem: the underfunding of the entire university network, which has been denounced for years,” writes Concordia University president Graham Carr.
… Yes, the current framework — created by the government in 2018 — has generated an imbalance. But Concordia, which since its inception has been a university based on ensuring access to higher education, has never been rich. What’s more, international students, except those from France and Belgium who benefit from an exemption, are self-financing. The government — and therefore the Quebec taxpayer — does not subsidize them in undergraduate and professional master’s programs.

23 October
François Legault et les universités anglophones
Graham Fraser
(Le Devoir) Dans l’approche du gouvernement du Québec envers des institutions de la communauté anglophone, c’est difficile d’éviter l’impression qu’il y a une ignorance, et une méfiance, derrière ses gestes.

Tuition fee increase: significant support for Bishop’s University
Voices continue to be raised to ask Quebec not to change tuition fees for students outside of Quebec at Bishop’s University. After Jean Charest over the weekend, it was the turn of federal MP Marie-Claude Bibeau to lend her support on Monday.
The MP for Compton-Stanstead and the federal Minister of Revenue, Marie-Claude Bibeau, is not used to meddling in Quebec jurisdictions, but the future of Bishop’s University is too important for her to keep quiet.
“I am especially concerned about Bishop’s University which is in Lennoxville, in the heart of my riding. I know this is a jurisdiction of the Quebec government, but I have the impression that the Bishop is a little bit in their blind spot,” …

3 Canadian Universities rank inside QS World University Rankings for 2024
In their recently published World University Rankings for 2024, QS identified three schools across Canada as being among the best in the world. Specifically, QS has ranked the University of Toronto, McGill University, and the University of British Columbia in the updated 2024 QS World University Rankings.

Opinion: Tuition scheme bad for universities, worse for students
While McGill might be harmed, I’m more worried about those who can’t afford the higher fees and the effect on Canada’s education system.
Steven Greenwood, PhD graduate from McGill, where he currently teaches in the English department, and is also a research fellow at Concordia.

21 October
Tuition hike ‘a frontal assault’ on Bishop’s University: Jean Charest
“Does anyone honestly think the future of the French language is threatened on the streets of Sherbrooke by the presence of Bishop’s University students?”
Former Quebec premier Jean Charest has joined the surging opposition to the government’s plan to nearly double tuition fees for out-of-province students, describing it as “a frontal assault” not only on Bishop’s University, but the whole Eastern Townships region.
Federal minister says Quebec made the wrong move on tuition hike, but its jurisdiction is clear
(CBC) Federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc says Quebec’s recent announcement that it will double tuition fees for most out-of-province students is a “bad decision” that will end up hurting the province.
“I think in the long term this damages Quebec’s ability, economically and socially, to have interesting, productive long-term relationships with their partners in the federation,” LeBlanc said in an interview on CBC Radio’s The House airing Saturday.
LeBlanc said the choice to hike tuition fees falls completely within Quebec’s jurisdiction and the federal government is Quebec’s partner in protecting the province’s French culture.”Do we think it’s a good decision?” he said. “Of course not.”

Quebec Liberals reject Legault’s brand of petty nationalism
We do not consider out-of-province students a threat, and we want our universities to rise to the top of the international rankings.
“Canadian students who return to their home province after their studies are ambassadors for Quebec, with a great awareness of our reality,” writes Marc Tanguay, interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party.

20 October
Quebec’s university tuition policy is a loss for the province and the whole country
The Legault government is trying to promote the French language and balance university funding by punishing English-speaking students. It won’t work.
Alex Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates
(IRPP Policy Options) Quebec has announced a set of controversial policy changes aimed at reducing the number of people from outside the province or the country studying in English at universities in Quebec.
Confusion arose immediately because of the government’s stunningly unhelpful media release announcing what is actually two complicated sets of interrelated policies on tuition and funding.
Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry says the changes will decrease enrolment at English universities while raising more money, which the province says it will in turn give to French-language universities. French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge defended the changes as a way to protect the French language, saying non-Quebec university students who don’t speak French are contributing to the anglicization of Montreal.
The province’s anglophone universities, the mayor of Montreal, the Montreal chamber of commerce, as well as Quebec’s largest employers’ group and other critics, say the moves will not only hurt those universities financially because they will reduce the number of Canadian students from other provinces, but also have negative effects on Montreal itself and on Quebec’s ability to attract the Canadian and international talent.
Toula Drimonis: With tuition scheme, CAQ accelerates race to the bottom
There are far more proactive ways to incentivize French-language acquisition, retain graduates and redress inequities — ways that don’t needlessly divide Quebecers, treat students as political pawns and compromise world-class academic research

18 October
Coalition Avenir Quebec’s outrageous tuition policy hurts all Quebecers
(QCGN Press Release) The Quebec Community Groups Network is alarmed that a recent move by the government of Premier François Legault to hike tuition fees for out-of-province students will spur young English-speaking Quebecers to leave the province. And it will stop talented young people in other provinces and beyond from coming here.

Brilliant slicing and dicing by Paul Wells
This Quebec university tuition thing
Welcome, out-of-province students! Don’t come! Pay more money!

François Legault’s divisive lesson in language politics
(Globe & Mail Editorial Board) … The new policy is a disaster in the making for Quebec’s three English-language universities. A glance at undergraduate tuition rates for out-of-province Canadians at universities across the country – which top out at about $9,000 per year – makes it clear that the three universities will be priced out of reach for all but the wealthiest non-Quebeckers, and will deprive them of tens of millions in tuition revenue.
While the policy will affect French-speaking people living outside Quebec as much as English-speaking ones, that is irrelevant to the discussion. The policy’s stated aims are twofold: to stop subsidizing the university educations of “Canadian anglophones” who don’t stay in Quebec after they graduate; and to discourage them from coming in the first place, because their unilingual presence in Montreal threatens the French language.
This is an obvious attempt by the Legault government to demonize English-language universities in the public eye, and to justify any harm to their finances.
McGill shelves $50M French program after Quebec out-of-province tuition hike
The Montreal English-language university was creating a program to teach students, faculty and staff French
In an email response to CBC News Wednesday, McGill’s media relations office confirmed it had postponed announcing a $50 million investment over five years “to enable more people from its community to learn or improve their French.”
The university was alerted a few days ahead of Déry’s tuition hike announcement that changes were coming that could affect the school’s financial situation but was not informed what those changes would be, according to the email, which was unsigned.
“Finding the initial funding for McGill’s investment in the promotion of the French language was extremely difficult,” it wrote. “The larger goal of the program was to help students, faculty and staff integrate more fully into Quebec society, broadening the already extensive impact of our talent and expertise across Quebec.”
Wednesday, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante joined the chorus of voices criticizing Quebec’s decision, saying it will dissuade students from coming to Montreal, hurt the city’s economy and push them instead toward universities in Toronto.
“We need talent, we need workers, we need students because we want our economy to grow,” Plante said.
“I want them [the Quebec government] to maybe have a bigger reflection and not to limit it to a fight between francophone against non-francophone. I think we’re missing the point here and it’s hitting hard and strong the representation of the city of Montreal as the metropolis of Quebec.”
Doubling tuition fees means students will choose Toronto over Montreal: Plante
Montreal’s mayor says she’s concerned about the economic impact of a plan announced last week to nearly double the tuition for students from other provinces enrolled in Quebec’s English universities.
Michel C. Auger Se tirer dans le pied
(La Presse) Le prétexte, c’est de rétablir l’équilibre entre le financement des universités francophones et anglophones et, du même coup, de rétablir ce que le ministre Jean-François Roberge a décrit comme « l’équilibre linguistique montréalais ».
Ce n’est bien évidemment qu’un prétexte. Parce que cette politique improvisée survient après la défaite de la Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) dans l’élection partielle de Jean-Talon et des sondages montrant une remontée du Parti québécois (PQ).
En clair, cela veut dire que des électeurs nationalistes quittent la CAQ pour retourner au PQ. On n’a pas fait de grandes études sur les effets de la hausse des droits de scolarité, mais on a étudié à fond le dernier sondage Léger.

Yasmine Abdelfadel:
(Journal de Montréal) Les conséquences de cette opération de relations publiques pourraient être désastreuses, voire existentielles pour l’Université Bishop’s par exemple et ce, à court terme. À moyen terme, encore une fois on a l’impression que le gouvernement de la CAQ mène une guerre contre la communauté anglophone et ses institutions, même lorsqu’elles font notre fierté à l’international.

Tom Mulcair: With tuition hikes, CAQ is top of class in wedge politics
The CAQ’s decision to lash out at the province’s English-language universities just as the CAQ tries to play catch-up with the PQ on language and identity smacks of the most crass and unprincipled political opportunism.

13-17 October
Tuition hike could ‘discourage talent’ from choosing Quebec universities: federal minister
(Global) Canada’s minister of innovation, science and industry is inviting the Quebec government to reflect on its messaging to out-of-province students after it announced it would be doubling their tuition fees.
Like many others, François-Philippe Champagne worries about what kind of impact the change will have down the road in terms of Quebec’s ability to attract talent to ensure innovation and continued growth.
Allison Hanes: Tuition hike will harm more than Quebec’s English universities
Doubling tuition for fellow Canadians is a fresh us-versus-them wedge aimed at the ties that bind this country together.
McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s University have long drawn a significant portion of their student bodies from the rest of Canada, part of a rich tradition of educational exchange, co-operation and opportunity that has fostered academic excellence. It’s an arrangement that also works both ways.
At a time in their lives when young adults are looking to spread their wings and expand their horizons, some students not only seek to leave home for their undergraduate or master’s degrees, but to move elsewhere in the country. Many from outside Quebec are drawn to vibrant, exciting, dynamic Montreal, one of the best cities in the world to be a student. And some Quebecers go in the opposite direction.
What’s so wrong with that? Section 6 of the Canadian Constitution governing “mobility rights” makes this possible — desirable, even — promising that every citizen and permanent resident has the “right to move and take up residency in any province and to pursue the gaining of a livelihood in any province.”
That’s why there’s no border checkpoint where Highway 20 turns into the 401, Quebecers who get hurt skiing at Whistler are entitled to care at B.C. hospitals and Montrealers can get jobs in Toronto without needing a work permit.
If there was one group in this country that might have a deeper understanding of Quebec’s history, distinctness and sensitivities, it’s all the Canadian students who have been educated at universities here. They help break down the Two Solitudes that persist between Quebecers and Canadians, as well as anglophones and francophones.
Driving them away is the next step in Legault’s incremental march toward greater independence for Quebec. By erecting artificial financial barriers, he’s undermining reciprocity. The less exposure Quebecers have to other Canadians (and vice versa), the less affinity, understanding and attachment will exist — and the more Legault’s polarizing and divisive identity politics are sure to resonate.
Raising tuition for fellow Canadians at English universities is a new us-versus-them wedge aimed at the ties that bind this country together.
McGill warns of consequences from Quebec’s plan to double out-of-province tuition for English students
McGill University’s vice-chancellor warned that the Quebec government’s new plan to nearly double tuition fees for out-of-province anglophone students could jeopardize the status of the medical school, while Bishop’s University principal and vice-chancellor predicted a “catastrophic” impact that could wipe out a quarter of its budget.
Quebec will charge out-of-province students more. What do you think? | Radio Noon Quebec with Shawn Appel | Live Radio | CBC Listen
QCGN Director General Sylvia Martin-Laforge joins Radio Noon Quebec’s Shawn Appel to speak about the recently-announced plan by the Quebec government to double tuition fees for out-of-province students attending English-language universities.
Chris Selley: Quebec’s war on English-language universities is pure civic vandalism
Quebec’s francophone universities are struggling, with the lowest tuition for in-province students in the country — but it’s easier to blame outsiders
Quebec to nearly double tuition fees for out-of-province students at English universities
(CTV) Tuition fees for some non-Quebec university students are set to nearly double next year as the provincial government clamps down on English-speaking newcomers.
The cost of studying at an English university will increase from about $9,000 to $17,000 per year beginning in the fall of 2024 for out-of-province and international students, Quebec’s Minister of Higher Education Pascale Déry officially announced Friday.
She says the cost is equivalent to what their education costs the Quebec government.
International students will have to pay a minimum of $20,000.
The reason: the ruling Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) party argues it wants to protect the French language, particularly in Montreal, by making it more expensive for the large number of students who the government believes come to Quebec to study in English only to leave after graduating.
The measure is part of the Quebec government’s action plan to reverse the decline of the use of French.
“Further significant steps” toward this goal are expected to be announced in the coming weeks, Quebec’s French language minister Jean-François Roberge said.
Kyle Matthews comments:
Looks like I might be searching for a new job, after hosting a major global conference in Montreal this week. The Government of Quebec chose Friday the 13th to announce it would be putting in place discriminatory policies that will more or less economically cripple the province’s three English speaking universities (McGill, my employer Concordia, and Bishops). Shameful.
Quebec announces it will nearly double university tuition fees for out-of-province students
La nouvelle tarification imposée par Québec aux étudiants de l’extérieur de la province choque les milieux universitaires anglophones, qui s’attendent à perdre des étudiants et beaucoup d’argent.
Les universités anglophones sous le choc
« C’est certain qu’il y aura un effet très négatif du point de vue financier pour les trois universités anglophones », a affirmé le recteur et vice-chancelier de l’Université Concordia, Graham Carr, en entrevue avec La Presse.
Quebec to double tuition fees for out-of-province students attending English universities
‘They’re sending out signals… that effectively students from the rest of Canada who are not francophone are not particularly welcome’
Via social media, Premier François Legault said the change represents “one more gesture to reverse the decline of French in Quebec.”
The plan, announced Friday by French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge and Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry, is expected to cost Quebec’s three English universities tens of millions of dollars per year.
… enrolment will inevitably drop at English universities, Déry said.
“We are increasing the tuition fees so there will be a drop at Concordia, Bishop’s (and) McGill, but obviously this is a choice that we’ve made” in order to boost funding of French universities and to protect French, she said.
Universities minister has had to defend herself on French language, Bill 21
In her previous life, Déry had been a spokesperson for Air Canada’s Montreal-based CEO, who was lambasted for not speaking French and saying he didn’t have time to learn the language of Quebec’s majority.
Last year, Déry not only ran for the CAQ, but she won her seat by a huge margin, and then immediately became a minister. Legault made her the first Jewish woman appointed to a Quebec cabinet.
Soon after leaving TVA in 2015, Déry had support from the Conservative Party of Canada establishment when she took her first stab at politics. But she lost the party’s nomination in Mount Royal riding in central Montreal to Robert Libman, who had previously been an Equality Party MNA and mayor of Côte-St-Luc. Undeterred, Déry ran for the Conservatives in Drummond, northeast of Montreal, placing fourth.
She went on to become the vice-president of communications at the Montreal Economic Institute, a conservative think-tank.
Between 2016 and 2022, Déry was a board member of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs–Québec (CIJA), according to her National Assembly biography. In 2019, that organization and many other groups representing religious minorities opposed Bill 21, the CAQ’s secularism legislation.