Future of student movement on table

Three leaders hope youth issues will gain attention

The three most prominent faces of the tuition battle last spring came together again on Thursday evening to discuss the student movement’s future — after the Sept. 4 election.

While many student associations have already voted to go back to class, the tuition battle is far from over, suggested student leaders at “Summer School,” a conference hosted by the Université du Québec à Montréal.

It was attended by spokesperson Martine Desjardins; former college spokesperson and current Parti Québécois candidate Léo BureauBlouin; and Gabriel NadeauDubois, for mer spokesperson of Coalition large de l’association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante, known as CLASSE.

The moderator’s burning questions were the following: Will the fall be as intense on the streets of Quebec as the “Maple Spring?” And does this depend on who is elected?

“I feel like this movement has surprised us for months,” said former CLASSE frontman Nadeau-Dubois, adding that Quebecers shouldn’t rule out protests after the election.

“What we can say with certainty is this: The end of the strike mandates is not the end of the student mobilization," Nadeau-Dubois said, referring to student faculties and CEGEPs.

Since the Liberal government proposed tuition hikes in 2010, the movement had “evolved enormously,” Desjardins said, adding that the boycott votes were used as “a strategic tool” in March to apply pressure during negotiations.

This move, she said, was what put education funding at the heart of a debate about provincial oversight of public institutions. “And it was one of the best ways to reach this objective.”

With the outcome of the provincial election still ahead, the student leaders mused on any number of possibilities for the future but were unanimous in the hopes that whoever ends up in the National Assembly this fall will be “more open than the Liberals to negotiation and to their youth.”

“My hope is that students and citizens continue to mobilize around decisions that are being made for us that we don’t agree with,” Desjardins said, adding she didn’t think Quebecers would roll over for another four years under the Liberals.

“While the government is billing this election as a referendum on the tuition issue, it isn’t so black and white,” she said. “There are a lot of other issues that deeply concern not only students, but many Québécois,” from taxes to social services.

“We should not underestimate youth, or the power of these elections,” NadeauDubois added.

“The discussions, questions and profound criticisms of institutions and government that came from this movement will not go away on Sept. 5.”