Four protesters noisily interrupted Premier Philippe Couillard as he was addressing reporters Thursday morning inside a hotel in St. Georges de Beauce at the start of a special two-day Liberal party caucus.
The four, all members of the Federation autonome de l'enseignement (FAE) teachers' union, were immediately escorted out of the hotel where the 70-member Liberal caucus is meeting under heavy security.
The protesters later told reporters they had breakfast in the hotel and kept their protest signs in their bags in order to escape notice by security.
"Couillard and the Liberals are abandoning public schools," FAE President Sylvain Mallette said.
He added the public school system is starting the school year with $350 million less in funding that last year, and that will directly affect student services including those for special needs students. However the government said the cuts amount to $150 million, a sign of how far apart the two sides are.
"Couillard is to blame for those students with learning difficulties" who won't get the services they need, Mallette said.
The teachers' union says private schools are getting millions of dollars in public funds and can select which students get in to their schools.
The FAE, which represents 32,000 teachers, has a strike mandate and will decide in early September if and when it goes on strike.
The government is bracing for a showdown with unions this fall, but feels it has public support
“Each time I see people protesting I also think about people not protesting,” Couillard said.
When the ministry of education announced the cuts, minister Francois Blais said the goal was to eliminate administrative waste, and not affecting teaching or support staff.
Blais said the worker need to do their jobs.
"They have a contract, they have to respect the contract and I'm confident about the solution is a negotiation," he said.
This week another teachers' union, the Centrale des syndicats du Quebec (CSQ), said school boards have been cutting essential staff, such as specialists and teachers' aides that work with children with special needs.
That union is urging teachers to work to rule, and refuse to accept extra-curricular activities assigned by administrators.
Later, about 100 protesters, including nurses, blared disco music and sounded horns outside the hotel.
Health Minister Gaetan Barrette met with some of the nurses for about 45 minutes. He said meetings like that are a good chance to clear up where the government stands.
A local nursing union president said Barrette was giving them political spin but the meeting was positive nonetheless.
“I understood sitting in there with him it was not the time to negotiate but I was able to get certain things from him, for example that he's able to say he won't go back on working conditions,” said Manon Larochelle.
