The Parti Québécois won last week’s election with 54 seats and by a margin of .73 per cent of the popular vote. Marois is set to be Quebec’s first female premier, and will head a minority government. The party has just announced a plan to reverse the tuition increases of the last administration and expand the purview of Bill 101, the law that governs Quebec’s language policy. As stated in Marois campaign, these changes would close access to English CEGEPs for francophone and allophone Quebeckers.
Despite limited discussion on the student movement during the election itself—the topic of last week’s editorial in the Tribune—the PQ announced last week its plan to throw out the previous government’s tuition increases immediately after its victory. Students who have already paid in accordance with the raise are to be reimbursed by their universities.
Cautious but celebratory steps have been taken within the student movement, particularly by the Fédération Etudiante Universitaire de Québec (FEUQ) and its younger sibling, the Fédération Etudiante collégiale de Québec (FECQ), declaring the fight “over,” while only the hardline CLASSE remains skeptical of the annoucement. Classes have resumed in Quebec universities and CEGEPs. This seems to be a hasty end to a drawn-out struggle. The Tribune notes that this is not a clear victory for anyone, and the implications for the student movement are particularly hazy.
First, the PQ is only a minority government. Its ability to get the freeze through the National Assembly is affected by the lack of a decisive majority. The easy way out for Marois and the PQ would be to try and push this through by holding a likley unsuccessful vote in the National Assembly. This is a good way to place the responsibility on other parties for failing to resolve the issue without having to deal with the actual difficulties of balancing a budget and finding that money somewhere else.
The PQ can also bolster support for the freeze, by forming a coalition government with the appropriately-named Coalition Avenir Québec (19 seats), headed by François Legault. While a coalition government is unlikely, it would likely require modifications to the original proposal, as compromises are to be expected in coalition-building.
Finally, the less diplomatic route for the PQ is to repeal the tuition hikes through an order-in-council, an executive decree that doesn’t need the consent of the legislature. The PQ has already hinted at this course of action in the past.
This is problematic for the Tribune, in light of the PQ’s minority government, narrow margin of victory in terms of the popular vote, and the overwhelming support for the tuition hikes in the province (64 per cent, according to a poll in La Presse in May 2012). An order-in-council is the option that is the least representative of the opinions of those who voted in the polls last week.
Therefore, it’s unclear whether the tuition freeze will be overturned, or if Charest’s raise will persist. Furthermore, there remains the logistical question of having schools reimburse students for tuition already paid. In an interview with the Gazette last week, Principal Heather Munroe-Blum noted that McGill’s budget for this year was established on the base set by the Quebec government in anticipation of the hike. McGill, in particular, has a different relationship with the government of Quebec than do other schools in the province; this is particularly due in part to its international reputation and student body, its independent sources of financing (research, well-placed alumnae), and its anglophone nature. Although no spokesperson from McGill has said anything to make us think the university won’t comply, its clear repayment will be a contentious issue in the weeks to come.
It seems the Parti Québécois does not really have a plan for students—this is the Tribune’s issue with all of these possible actions. Representatives at Marois’ election-night party had vague, ready-made, and politically safe statements on what was next for the student movement in Quebec: promising to resolve it, to take it seriously, and to stick to their guns. Marois has already teetered towards support for students, then shifted back. It’s clear that the issue is not settled, and the Tribune urges students to remain cautious.
The online edition of this editorial has been edited from the print in order to fix typographical errors.
