MONTREAL - With the provincial government and student leaders sitting down at a bargaining table on Monday, Quebecers are united behind one idea: end the months-long conflict that has seen hundreds of protests take place since February.
Monday's talks began at 2 p.m. in Quebec City with Education Minister Michelle Courchesne sitting across from student leaders from FECQ, FEUQ and CLASSE.
"We'll take time to meet and find a solution, I have all my time," Education Minister Michelle Courchesne said to a media scrum.
While the majority of Quebecers want a negotiated settlement, it's not certain what can be offered to bring an end to the nightly protests.
"If we don't succeed in coming to an agreement acceptable to both sides, I think it will be very hard to come out of this crisis, because the students are no longer in class and the social climate is becoming more and more heated," said CEGEP federation leader Leo Bureau-Blouin.
"If we can find an exist to this crisis, we are open minded, but it depends on what the Quebec government is offering to the students," said Bureau-Blouin.
Martine Desjardins of the university group FEUQ said that the one thing that has never been discussed at any time with the government is the tuition hike itself.
"Just to talk about tuition fee hike at the table would be a step forward, because every time we've discussed with the government, we never put on the table the tuition fee hike," said Desjardins.
"The pressure is on the government," she continued. "All the students have had their semesters suspended. They can wait until autumn but the government have pressure from the chambers of commerce and tourist industry."
The students stated in advance that they were not willing to work through the night, as they did last time. They're taking breaks and even days if required.
"Our condition are simple and evident," said Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. "We want to talk about the tuition increase and Bill 78."
Previous negotiations failed
The last round of negotiations took place just over three weeks ago, when Line Beauchamp was still heading up the ministry of education.
It ended in an agreement-in-principle that student leaders dismissed the following day, saying they had been duped by the government.
The provincial government has made substantial changes to its initial proposal of a $1625 tuition hike over five years.
The last set of talks ended with the government deferring tuition hikes for one semester, then reducing the annual amount of hikes. Under the latest plan the government wants to see tuition rise by $1778 over seven years.
The government also agreed to creating a body to examine, and find ways to reduce, ancillary fees universities charge students that are not included in tuition.
Peaceful Sunday protest
Once again Sunday night thousands of protesters took to the streets of Montreal to show their displeasure with what started out as opposition to tuition hikes, but for the past ten days has been dominated by opposition to emergency legislation limiting the right to protest.
The 34th-straight protest was declared illegal the moment it began because protesters refused to file a route with police. However, as is customary, police let the protest happen without interference.
One 48-year-old man was arrested for throwing a pot at a bus and breaking a window. He will be charged with armed assault and mischief.
Mixed results in polls
A pair of CROP polls released in the past few days offered seemingly confusing impressions of the ongoing student conflict, but overall support for the government's plan.
A CROP/Radio-Canada poll released late Friday shows 60 percent of Quebecers oppose Bill 78.
That poll also shows that 49 percent of the population wants a negotiated end to the dispute, and that the majority of Quebecers (58%) think student groups have not negotiated in good faith.
By the same token 48 percent of Quebecers think the government has not been negotiating in good faith either.
That poll shows just 24 percent want tuition eliminated or frozen, while 45 percent think hikes should be linked to the cost of living, and 27 percent say they should increase.
Meanwhile a CROP/La Presse poll released Saturday shows 64 percent of Quebecers support tuition hikes.
That poll also shows the majority of Quebecers support individual provisions within the emergency legislation, namely measures banning protests on campus and informing police of protest marches, although support for Bill 78 as a whole is lower than for its respective parts.
