After CAQ government refuses meeting, Dawson puts expansion hopes in public petition

Refused meetings with those in power, Dawson College is putting its hopes for its cancelled expansion project in the public.

It's gathering thousands of names in a petition, hoping to prove -- just before provincial budget time -- that voters aren't happy.

"Before they announce the budget on March 22nd, we are making sure to be there to make our presence known," said Dawson student union president Alexandrah Cardona.

More than a month after the CAQ government suddenly shelved the long-term expansion plan, saying it now prefers to send the funding to French-language colleges, Dawson has had no luck even getting a meeting with a provincial official.

It's "still 'no' to a meeting," said Dawson spokesperson Christina Parsons.

So the college has moved up the deadline for its official petition to the legislature by nearly a month, which will allow it to present the final petition before the budget is set in stone later in March, hoping for an eleventh-hour change of heart.

"It’s not just about trying to save a building at Dawson," said Dawson academic dean Rob Cassidy. "It’s really about sending a message to the government to treat its communities, to treat all Quebecers equitably."

Originally, the petition cutoff was set for April 11, but the province is set to table the budget well before that.

"The deadline was moved up to March 15 so the petition can be presented in the National Assembly on March 17 before the budget is brought down on March 22," Parsons said.

"We hope that the government will listen to the thousands of people who have signed the petition and include our infrastructure project in the budget."

So far about 12,000 people have signed the petition and Dawson is hoping for more before the cutoff next Tuesday.

Two days later, next Thursday, the college plans to send a delegation of students to Quebec City to help present the final petition and make the case, again, for the expansion.

"When the governments make decisions like they have on a building at Dawson for political reasons, it sets a dangerous precedent for not just Dawson but for other institutions," said Cassidy.

Westmount MNA Jennifer Maccarone will present the petition in the legislature that day as well. According to her, it's currently the most popular petition gathering steam among official provincial petitions.

Parsons said the Dawson delegation's plans for Thursday aren't yet fully set and she can't say yet if they'll be able to hold any private meetings with politicians, aside from their planned press conference.

The cancellation of the expansion sparked anger among many Quebec English-speakers, especially given the blunt reason given.

"Premier François Legault explained that he is cancelling the project because Dawson offers instruction in English and he would rather invest in CEGEPs that offer instruction in French," recalled the college in a release Friday.

Dawson students lack almost a third of the space they're entitled to have under government norms, which the ministry of education has recognized, the school wrote.

It would have housed a community clinic and all of Dawson's seven health-care programs, adding more than 11,000 square metres of space. It had been seven years in the making when it was shelved.

The college said that while the government has declined its requests for a meeting, it's been buoyed by the support from the public since that news broke in late January.

"Quebecers have rallied around Dawson College in the wake of the Quebec government cancelling the new healthcare pavilion," the college wrote in a release Friday.

The petition opened on Feb. 22. Student leaders, not just the school's administration, are also throwing their weight behind it.

“It’s last call to add your name and show your support for current and future students of Dawson and for the anglophone community of Quebec," wrote Dawson Student Union President Alexandrah Cardona in a statement. "We are also Quebecers!"