MONTREAL - Francois Legault has caused a stir for comments deriding the province's CEGEP system.
Legault, who has been leading in the polls for months even though he has yet to officially form a political party, says he would be in favor of doing away with CEGEP. Instead, he would add one year to high school and one in university, as is the case in the rest of Canada.
He said during a public question and answer session on the South Shore last week that it's a great place "to learn how to smoke drugs and drop out."
It didn't take long for CEGEP administrators and staff to react.
"It's sad to see a man looking for the support of the Quebec population to get back to these ideas that are not really faithful to reality," said Richard Fillion of Dawson College.
CEGEP, Fillion said, provides students with extra time to decide on a career or university studies.
"Their choices are more firm and they will succeed better," he said.
This isn't the first time the issue of abolishing CEGEP has been brought up. In 2004 the Quebec government held hearings on the subject., and the conclusion was they must remain in place.
Last June, the Conference Board of Canada also concluded that the province's CEGEP system played an important role in Canada's high-rate of post-high-school graduation.
Legault's statement that CEGEPs have a higher drop-out rate does not appear to be backed up by statistics.
A Stats Can study shows that first-year university drop out rates are about 25 percent -- roughly the same as the overall CEGEP dropout rate.
"We dominate Canada on higher-education graduation," said Mario Beauchemin of the union representing CEGEP teachers.
