Some months ago, tens of thousands of students took to the streets to protest tuition hikes brought upon them by the former Premier of Quebec Jean Charest. The protest at that time, May 22, 2012 marked 100days of active protest and continued some months later, tricking off to an ominous presence by the time Charest announce provincial elections on August 1st, with Quebecers heading to the polls the day after labour day Sept. 4th.
Student Protest- Downtown, Montreal(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)(Credit: AP)
As it played out, Charest lost the elections to Pauline Marios, leader of the Parti Quebecors who in support of the students (one of the key student organisers campaigned with her – Léo Bureau-Blouin, ) tabled the tuition hike brought about by her predecessor. Bureau-Blouin was a leader of Quebec’s student movement and a headline figure in the months-long student strike.
Now the students are back at it calling for free tuition within Quebec with a European model that found in many EU countries as their platform for change. Countries such as Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Iceland and Sweden to mention a few do not have tuition fees attached to their public Universities. Some other EU countries such as Spain have nominal fees which are as low as 9,50 EU dollars per course. see List of EU Countries & Tuition Comparisons.
Currently students pay approximately $2,175 per year in Quebec, whereas in Ontario the average cost of tuition is triple that, at approximately $6,500 according to Maclean’s Magazine.
Léo Bureau-Blouin, named Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier for Youth Issues
This new protest comes form one of the three largest student groups ‘CLASSE’ who says free education is entirely achievable. CLASSE presented a two-phase counter offer to the Quebec government Thursday morning which included the reintroduction of capital taxes on financial institutions at 0.14% rising to 0.7% by 2016 which would culminate revenue for the government of about $400 million to cover post secondary educational cost and totally eliminate tuition fees by 2016.
Free tuition would allow full access to minority groups and those who currently can not attend post secondary institutions based on affordability. It is also suggested that graduates contribute significantly to the social and economic infrastructure of the province by the share volume of higher taxable incomes. It also contributes to breaking the cycle of poverty for some families.
For more on CLASSE radio interview & Free education proposal see: CBCNEWS
About Author: Khamal Murray is a major in Bioethics & Heath Studies at the University of Toronto and a blogger/writer with http://thejuxtapositionape.blog.com and a special contributor with Alternavox Magazine