MONTREAL -- The Parti Québécois will table a motion this week to stop the controversial $100 million expansion of Montreal’s Dawson College, an English-language CEGEP.

According to party leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, any new money should primarily be directed to the French-speaking college network, in order to balance the number of places in CEGEPs according to Montreal's demographics.

Dawson’s expansion was the only CEGEP project to be selected by the CAQ government to be part of a group of infrastructure projects to be carried out on an accelerated basis as part of the province's plan for COVID-19 economic stimulus.

In an interview with The Canadian Press Monday, the PQ leader said by approving the project, the CAQ government was funding assimilation.

According St-Pierre Plamondon, it symbolizes a linguistic dynamic that's going in the wrong direction.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 8, 2021.