Liberals say CAQ’s identity politics has created a disaster in English universities

Article content

QUEBEC — The Coalition Avenir Québec government has allowed its identity policies to interfere with its management of the anglophone CEGEP and university network with disastrous financial results, the Liberal opposition higher education critic, Michelle Setlakwe, said Friday.

But Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry insisted that if anyone is responsible for the governance issues at play in the university network it is the previous Liberal government, which she said had mismanaged the system.

Article content

In a heated exchange in the legislature, Setlakwe took Déry to task for the government’s decision last October to increase tuition for international and out-of-province students at McGill and Concordia universities.

And despite Quebec’s later decision to exempt Bishop’s University from the 33 per cent tuition hike, it is experiencing the fallout in the form of dropping enrolment, Setlakwe said.

“The damage is done,” Setlakwe told a legislature committee with Déry sitting across the floor. “Enrolment is down. They (universities) have to tighten their belts. They are cutting. Why would you put Concordia in this critical, difficult situation?

“The message we are sending (with these policies) is: ‘Don’t come to Quebec.’

“There are no explanations. It can only be a political decision. I deplore that the CAQ government and its identity policies interfered in the governance and management of our network. We are now seeing on the ground the damage that has been done.”

Déry ignored the reference to identity politics but said — as she has in the past — that the government wanted to correct an imbalance in the network, by which she meant the English system had more students in this category than francophone institutions.

Article content

Article content

“People don’t seem to understand the objectives of this policy even if I have explained it several times,” Déry said, adding that it was the Liberals who chose to deregulate the system thus sparking an imbalance.

“We are re-establishing a balance in the network that had disappeared,” she said.

Insisting that the government is acting fairly with both the French and English networks, Déry noted Quebec has given gave Bishop’s $35 million in recent years for infrastructure, including $10.7 million to transform the heritage Divinity House into an Indigenous gathering space.

“Bishops is treated like any other institution in our network,” Déry said.

But Setlakwe, who said she spent the past several months talking to rectors and players in the field about the horrible effects of the tuition policy, challenged Déry to produce studies showing there is a link between the number of English-speaking out-of-province students and the decline of French in Montreal.

The government has argued there is. She did not get an answer.

When Setlakwe asked about the mechanics of how the government’s new requirement that 80 per cent of out-of-province students at McGill and Concordia reach an intermediate level of French by the time they graduate will work, Déry said a joint working committee has been created to establish a policy.

Article content

“The modalities of how this will work belong to the universities,” she said. “What I can say is the work is progressing but you understand all the tuition issue is before the courts so I will limit my comments to this.”

Her remark was in reference to the two lawsuits launched by McGill and Concordia challenging the tuition policy.

Earlier, Setlakwe told reporters she found the CAQ government’s decision to target McGill, Concordia and Bishops distressing.

“Weakening our institutions is unacceptable,” Setlakwe said. “I am proud of McGill. McGill makes our entire province shine. I also feel strongly about the impact on Concordia.”

She questioned whether Déry is aware of what is being said on the ground.

“Is she listening? Absolutely not. She’s completely disconnected with the reality of these institutions.”

Déry also took heat at the committee from Sol Zanetti, Québec solidaire’s higher education critic, who ran down a list of problems in the CEGEP and university network from the lack of books to broken windows, toilets and elevators.

“The network is in a state of crisis,” Zanetti told the committee.

Déry responded by saying the network has been allocated a total of $8.5 billion over the next 10 years to repair and upgrade institutions.

“I know there are challenges,” she said. “We can’t do everything at the same time.”

Déry did not meet the media Friday.

pauthier@postmedia.com

X.com/philipauthier

Article content

Article content