[Dralud]

Hello, there is a question thats has been trotting in my head lately.

Right now, in Quebec (a province of Canada), there has been mounting tensions in between the current Provincial Government and the Students over a 75% tuition fee raise.

The Provincial Government's position on this issue is that the Students in Quebec dont pay enough compared to the other provinces and that thus they have to pay more to do their "Fair Share", also pointing out the current economical situation in Quebec and across the World.

The Student position, represented in majority by 3 associations, say that the tuition fee raise is unacceptable, considering that the current Provincial Government is allready miss-using the people's money, having raised the Provincial debt significantly durring their mandate, and that taxing education is not the way to sponge up their mistake.

I allready have a position taken on the subject, but I would like to know if you have heard of this in the media and what your thoughts on the situation is.

Extra info on both sides:
The Prime Minister of Quebec is Jean-Charest, leader of the Liberal Party, exleader of the Conservative Party.
The Minister of Education is Line Beauchamp, member of the Liberal Party.
The current Goverment has been in power for 4 years now, and has had a lot of criticism on almost all of its decisions, most notably on the lack of good will on almost all of its dealings with populations and on its miss-management of the Quebec economy.
The current Provincial Government is being investigated for Corruption on the subject of Provincial construction contracts and on the subject of Police bribes. There have been ties in between the current Gov. and the Local mafias that have been uncovered.

The Student associations are:
The FECQ (Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec/Quebec Federation of College Students) representing 80 000 students, considered moderates.
the FEUQ (Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec/Quebec Federation of University Students) representing 125 000 students, considered moderates.
The CLASSE (Coalition Large de l'Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante/Broad Coalition of the Association for Student Solidarity Unions) representing 99 666 students, considered extremists.
The Student strikes have been causing a lot of trouble lately, as riots have errupted in the streets of all the major cities of Quebec, accounts of vandalism from members of the CLASSE, mass political arrests, the most notable one being 311 students in 2 days in the most peacefull region of Quebec, the Outaouais Region, wich borders with the Capital of Canada, Ottawa.

Thank you

 

[Impavida]

Quebec is a have-not province that exists solely on forced transfer payments from the wealthier western provinces. Quebecers enjoy social programs and benefits that the rest of Canada only dreams about and they do it on the backs of the other provinces.

Tuition in Quebec currently costs 45% of what most other provinces pay. The average undergrad tuition fee in Quebec is about $2500, while in most other provinces it's about $5600. With a 75% increase they will be paying about $4300, which is still 25% less than the Canadian average.

When Quebec is able to subsidize their tertiary education 100% with their own money, they can charge whatever they want. As long as they are being financially supported by the other Canadian provinces, they can damn well pay full rates like the rest of the country.

Edit - my comments are not anti-Quebec. I'm equally unsympathetic to all the have-not provinces in Canada (including one that I currently call home). Providing your citizens with handouts and subsidies paid for by another jurisdiction's money, then complaining that it's still too expensive is beyond disgusting. How about letting BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan subsidize their own education systems instead of sucking them dry to pay for everyone elses?

 

[Dralud]

So you would say that the blame in this situation lies on whom?

 

[Impavida]

The obvious answer is our political leaders, both provincially and federally. Ultimately, however, the buck stops with all of us common folk. We're the ones who keep voting in the morons who create these stupid policies.

Blame isn't really a constructive direction for any discussion on this topic though. We are where we are. The real question is how to move forward to a system that is equitable to as many people as possible and doesn't unfairly burden anyone in the process.

Hiking tuition fees $1600+ in a single year really isn't going to solve anything. I don't claim to have any answers. All I know is that the current system very obviously isn't working in a manner that's fair to all Canadians.

 

[Dralud]

I must say that I agree with what you say, tho i must add the rectification that the current Federal Gov. only got 41% of the votes.
As for the provincial, Because I do not know wich province you come from, I cannot say the voting % for you but in Quebec, the dissatisfied population is estimated to be around 75%, thus I must point out the fact that it is not the majority of the populations that must be blamed, but how our voting system works.