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   Vol. 69/No. 17           May 2, 2005  
 
 
Quebec students score gains through strike
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BY AIMEE KENDERGIAN  
MONTREAL—Following a six-week strike, Quebec university, college, and high school students won a partial but important victory in their struggle to get the Quebec government to reinstate Can$103 million (Can$1=US$0.83) in student grants that it had slashed from the education budget. At its height, the strike involved 230,000 students and won the support of the big majority of working people in Quebec. Tens of thousands of students and their supporters participated in daily picket lines, demonstrations, and protest actions in February and March.

On April 1, the Federation of Quebec University Students (FEUQ) and the Federation of Quebec College Students (FECQ) negotiated an agreement with the provincial government that will reinstate the full $103 million within two years for a four-year period. Next year $70 million of the funds will be restored. As part of the agreement, the federal government will transfer funds from another education program to the grants program.

“It is a victory,” Véronique Pronovost, a student at André Laurendeau College, told the Militant. “We said that we were doing it for others, and the students after us will get the money.” Véronique Clermont, a student at the University of Montreal, also supported the settlement, but added, “I think it’s a shame that the federal government took money from another program to give us what they had taken away.”

Although the Association for Broad Student Union Solidarity Coalition (CASSEE) representing over 50,000 students, had initiated the strike action, it was excluded from the negotiations with the government. It rejected the agreement and continued the strike for an extra week. At a meeting on the April 9-10 weekend, CASSEE’s leadership decided to recommend ending the strike while still rejecting the agreement. “The relationship of forces was not favorable for continuing,” said CASSEE spokesperson Héloise Moysan-Lapointe. “The students saw the contempt that the elected representatives have for the population.”

Pier-André Bouchard, the president of the FEUQ, told the media that in addition to winning the funding, the students “are now conscious of the importance of the political aspect, of mobilizing.” This lesson will be important in the coming months, he added, “because we have a government that is talking about ending the freeze on tuition fee hikes. We will definitely not let our guard down, [the government] will still have us in its way.” Quebec students have the lowest tuition fees in the country. Previous mobilizations won a freeze on tuition fee increases.

Education is a major question in Quebec. Teachers and school support staff have begun rotating strikes demanding a contract settlement by June. They have been without a contract since 2003. On May 6 teachers and support staff from across the province will go out on strike and join in a mass demonstration in front of the Quebec National Assembly buildings in Quebec City, the capital of the province.  
 
 
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