Petition to halt Quebec tuition hikes collects 33,000 signatures
Flanked by students at Quebec's National Assembly, Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy presented a landmark petition to stop the government from doubling tuition rates for out-of-province students.
As of Tuesday, more than 33,000 people signed the petition demanding the Legault government back down on controversial tuition hikes slated for next year.
In mid-October, the province announced it would introduce a tuition hike starting next fall, requiring most new students from outside Quebec to pay nearly twice what current students pay.
The government has maintained the move is supposed to protect the French language. Quebec's English-language universities -- Concordia, McGill, and Bishop's -- enroll more students from outside the province than their French-language counterparts.
Since then, all three universities have called on the government to change course, warning of severe budget cuts and enrollment shortfalls should the hikes pass.
On Tuesday, tens of thousands of signatures were presented at the National Assembly demanding the government scrap the new fees, and Rizqy challenged the premise of the hikes.
"This is his real agenda. It's not to protect French. It's just to win some votes," she said, referring to Quebec Premier François Legault and his party's loss in the October Jean-Talon byelection.
Rizqy, the Liberals' education and higher education critic, says her team hasn't seen documented justification for the hikes and their ability to protect the use of French.
"We actually [filed an access to information request] to the Ministry of the French language to get that data," said Liberal MNA Madwa-Nika Cadet during a Tuesday press conference.
"Our request was refused, essentially," she said.
In place of the hikes, McGill, Concordia and Bishop's have offered to create new French-language courses -- a proposal Quebec's Higher Education Minister Pascale Dery is still considering.
"I've seen the petition I'm still discussing with the universities," said Dery on Tuesday.
Outside the petition, which is not binding, students in both the French and English sectors have been vocal in their disdain for the hikes, and some prospective students have already told CTV they had considered coming to Quebec before the new fees were announced.
"I think she's listening, but I'm ready to hear her start talking," said Sophia Stacey, president of Bishop's University Students' Representative Council, during the Tuesday press conference.
McGill University says, regardless of how the province reacts to sustained outcry, some damage to the school's international reputation has already been dealt.
"When we travel internationally, we're already being asked, 'What's that news about Quebec? What's that news about double tuition?'" said McGill's Deputy Provost of Student Life and Learning Fabrice Labeau.
"It's not only the lost revenue, but also the huge uncertainty it throws in our system," he added. "Students don't really know what to expect, because nothing has been finalized yet, and we don't know what to tell them."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Fatal plane crash reported near Squamish, B.C.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Humboldt Broncos crash victims and families react to decision to deport truck driver
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
Community mourns victims of fatal boat crash near Kingston, Ont.
The three people killed in last weekend's tragic collision between a speedboat and a fishing boat north of Kingston are being remembered Friday.
'God forgives but we don’t': Loud outburst from stabbing victim’s family during sentencing hearing
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
American Airlines drops law firm that said a 9-year-old girl should have seen camera on toilet seat
American Airlines has replaced the law firm that told a judge a nine-year-old girl was negligent in not noticing there was a camera phone taped to the seat in an airplane lavatory.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Nicki Minaj's England concert postponed after rapper was detained by Dutch authorities over pot
Nicki Minaj's concert in Manchester scheduled for Saturday night was postponed after police in the Netherlands discovered marijuana in her bags as she was preparing to leave the country.
1 dead, 3 in hospital after flying wheel crashes into bus windshield on QEW
A man is dead, and three others are in hospital after a flying wheel crashed into a coach bus on the QEW in St. Catharines.