Provincial negotiator’s invitation spurs students to meet government
The Kentucky Derby will not be the only interesting race held this weekend. In Quebec, a last-minute invitation from the provincial government has kicked off what can be referred to as the Victoriaville Stakes.
A phone call Friday morning from Pierre Pilote, chief negotiator for the Charest government on the issue of tuition fee increases, was the starting gun that sent representatives of Quebec’s three student federations, the three largest unions and the university rectors speeding from Montreal to Quebec City to attend what appears to be a lastditch attempt by the government to end a three-month impasse over the issue that has seen Montreal turned into the site of nearly 200 protest marches over the past 11 weeks.
While federation officials were not reacting publicly to the timing of the government’s invitation, there was no denying Friday’s meeting – and whatever results it pro- duced – would have an impact on the scale and duration of demonstrations planned to coincide with the Quebec Liberal Party’s convention scheduled to begin Friday evening in Victoriaville.
Originally scheduled to take place in Montreal, the convention was moved in an effort to avoid demonstrators.
Reports out of Victoriaville early Friday depicted an otherwise tranquil city preparing for a state of siege, the centre where the convention was to take place surrounded by a security fence and police perimeter while local merchants boarded up their windows.
Heading into the meeting, the leader of the Fédération étudiante collégiale (FECQ), Léo Bureau-blouin, said he hoped it would be more than just a public relations exercise on the government’s part.
“There’s a lot of pressure from the public to negotiate. Maybe (Charest) wants to use this negotiation process to calm down the protests in Victoriaville,” BureauBlouin told reporters in Quebec City.
“But we hope the government has a real willingness to solve the crisis.”
Gabriel Nadeau-dubois, co-spokesperson for CLASSE, emphasized the student associations won’t put an end to their strike until the government agrees to freeze or eliminate its tuition hike. The student associations will vote on the government’s latest offer, if one is indeed tabled Friday,
“We need to stop polarizing the debate around tuition fees.”
MARTINE DESJARDINS OF THE FEUQ
Nadeau-dubois added.
Martine Desjardins of the FEUQ appeared clearly open to a compromise as she walked in the meeting.
“We need to stop polarizing the debate around tuition fees and whether we are for or against it,” she said. “We need to look at university financing, that’s the key for a consensus and we’re going to push for that at the (negotiating) table,” she added.
Union leaders Louis Roy of the CSN and Réjean Parent of the CSQ arrived at the meeting in downtown Quebec City Friday sporting the ubiquitous symbol of the student strike, the red square. The two workers unions – who represent many teachers – support the student movement and have backed them financially.
But Michel Arseneau of the FTQ said his union is attending the meeting in hope of finding a solution for all Quebecers. “It concerns all of Quebec. We hope our students can go back (to class),” he told reporters.
Also at the negotiating table was the CREPUQ – the Quebec association of university rectors and principals – and the federation of CEGEP directors.
Friday afternoon’s meeting coincided with a pair of intriguing surveys published by Montreal newspapers.
A CROP survey presented by La Presse suggested that while 68 per cent of Quebecers favour Charest’s tough stand on tuition hikes, 67 per cent remain dissatisfied with his government.
Survey results in both La Presse and the Journal de Montréal reported that if an election were held this week, it would be a three-way race between the Liberals, the Parti Québécois and the newly formed Coalition pour l’avenir du Québec.
An offer by the government last week to spread the tuition fee hikes over a period of seven rather than five years has been rejected by the student federations. A counterproposal from the federations that retained a freeze on tuition at present levels was described as “disappointing” by the government.
Meanwhile, nightly protests continue to draw thousands through downtown Montreal, sometimes diverting from the city core to picket in front of Premier Jean Charest’s Westmount home.