Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

[emerald000]

Quebec's government has passed in its budget a hike of over 75% of the tuition costs over 5 years. In objection to it, over 200 thousands students and people of all social spheres regrouped in Montreal and started walking downtown in a convoy about 2 kilometres long. Here's a time-lapse video showing about a third of the people, as they had to split in multiple parallel roads. (Warning, French background song)

I was there. It was crazy. There was people as far you could see in every direction. The tail of the protest arrived about 90 minutes after the head. I was near the start and people just kept coming and coming and coming for over an hour. The craziest part is that there was no violence at all. None. I saw about 5 policemen blocking the entrance of the building of Loto-Quebec, the government agency that operates lotteries. Otherwise, they stayed a couple of roads away, blocking traffic.

Yet, the government announced it will not change its budget. It seems to think the movement will lose steam. I highly doubt it will. There are over 250 thousand students on strike and more are joining every day. In the next weeks, a lot of "economical perturbations" are planned. This should be interesting to watch.

Today, I can say I am proud to be a Quebecois.

[bmah]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

The cost of everything these days go up...food, housing, and other expenses. I don't see how a tuition hike is unrealistic, especially since the cost of tuition in Quebec was frozen for a long time. (and then I can go on about the cost of tuition in the states...a whole different story compared to what Canadians pay)

[hi19hi19]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

The cynic in me says "lol typical French, something is changing better protest/go on strike"

Regardless that was a pretty sick video. I like the color filtering where the reds really stand out

EDIT- also the song was pretty catchy haha I liked it

[Zageron]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

Good for them. About time a massive peaceful rally took place somewhere. No stupid violent police officers to induce violence, just pissed but peaceful students.

Good on ye all.

[emerald000]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

Yes, we have the lowest tuition prices in North America. But we still are above the average of the OECD. Also, the bill wasn't really frozen like most think. The "mandatory institutions fees" kept raising near the inflation rate.

Should knowledge cost something? We believe that instruction should be a right, not a service. There are studies that shows how the instruction of a nation is correlated with the wealth of the nation.

What we want is not free scholarship, at least not right now. What we want is for the government to listen to us. They totally refuse to hear us out. We want to be able to sit around a table with them and discuss the current situation. Since they refuse to do that, we do what we can: take the roads and shout out loud until we are heard.

PS: For a full argumentation, see http://1625wontpass.ca/wp-content/up...sse-VPI-en.pdf. It is a pretty heavy read, but it brings out the main points of the movement.

[noname219]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

Je rêve d'un Canada sans frais de scolarité où tout le monde pourrait avoir accès à une éducation gratuite. L'avantage avec un système comme celui-là, c'est que l'on donne la chance à tout le monde de pouvoir s'enrichir intellectuellement. Et le problème, si on augmente les frais, comme on l'a beaucoup entendu est que les gens plus fortunés seront avantagés.

Le gros problème avec le système de pensée actuel est qu'on a de la difficulté à avoir une vision à long terme. L'argent qu'on investit dans le capital humain aujourd'hui sera beaucoup plus profitable à long terme. Après tout, plus on est une scolarisé, plus on a accès à un emploi payant, par conséquent les retombés par l'impôt pour le gouvernement seront bonifiés. C'est ce que je crois. Et c'est un point important qu'on oublie dans le débat.

Pour le moment, la majorité des arguments en faveur et contre la hausse des frais portent sur l'argent. Et on le fait de façon très égocentrique, peut importe le clan. Pour établir une société mieux organisée, il faut oublier nos intérêts personnels.

La problématique ne se limite pas uniquement qu'au Québec mais partout dans le monde. Je crois que l'éducation est un droit fondamental et doit être respecté. La charte québecoise des droits et liberté spécifie dans l'article 40 que "toute personne a droit, dans la mesure et suivant les normes prévues par la loi, à l'instruction publique gratuite." (http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gou...=/C_12/C12.HTM)
Comment se fait-il que notre gouvernement semble omettre cette clause dans son argumentation ? Est-ce que c'est moi qui ait mal interprété l'article ?

Google translate :

I dream of a Canada without tuition where everyone could have access to free education. The advantage with a system like this is that it gives a chance for everyone to be able to enrich themselves intellectually. And the problem, if we increase the cost, as we have heard a lot is that people will benefit more affluent.

The big problem with the current thinking is that we have trouble having a long term vision. The money we invest in human capital today will be much more profitable in the long term. After all, there is a more educated, the more one has access to a paying job, so the fallen by taxes for the government will be improved. This is what I believe. And that's an important point that we forget in the debate.

For now, the majority of the arguments for and against fee increases are on the money. And it does so very self-centered, no matter the clan. To establish a more organized society, we must forget our personal interests.

The problem is not limited only in Quebec but around the world. I believe that education is a fundamental right and must be respected. The Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms specifies in Article 40 that "everyone has the right, to the extent and the standards provided by law, to free public education."
How is it that our government seems to omit this clause in his argument? Is it me who misread the article?

[Artic_counter]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

I was there :3

The f*cked up thing is that the government doesn't even wants to engage discussion with students.

[Aldentron]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

The cynic in me says "lol typical French, something is changing better protest/go on strike"

those are canadians lol duh and protests are typical of pretty much every nation besides the united states.

there were a lot of protests in Colombia late last year about education reform, too


typical FFR-user reaction: what? colombia is a regular place?

[hi19hi19]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

Notice I specified that was the cynical side of me talking.
My logical reaction is more along the lines of "cool protest and I can see why they're doing it but I don't think it will have the desired results because of the current economic situation"

[Aldentron]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

yeah that's how things tend to unfold whenever people like you sit at home on the computer and don't do anything about it :/

[emerald000]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

The economy isn't as bad here as it is in the United States. The current problem is not the amount of money, but the way it is being used. For example, the rector of my school gave himself a raise of 100,000$ in bonuses last year. Why? Because he can. The government gives money by millions to big foreign corporations to exploit our resources without asking anything in return. It keeps lowering taxes for the large companies in order to keep their support. The money is there, just not going to the right places.

[kommisar]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

it's funny because québec's tuition costs are still less than half of everyone else in the country

[Zageron]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

The economy isn't as bad here as it is in the United States. The current problem is not the amount of money, but the way it is being used. For example, the rector of my school gave himself a raise of 100,000$ in bonuses last year. Why? Because he can. The government gives money by millions to big foreign corporations to exploit our resources without asking anything in return. It keeps lowering taxes for the large companies in order to keep their support. The money is there, just not going to the right places.

And this, is why I hate conservatism.

[kommisar]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

the government could just legislate tuition costs like they do with air canada strikes LoL

but no their rich conservative buddies wouldn't be cool with that.

[emerald000]

Re: Over 200000 students protest against tuition hikes

it's funny because québec's tuition costs are still less than half of everyone else in the country

Should we also vote for Harper since the rest of the Canada does it?