The scope of what has been unfolding in Quebec recently is astonishing. Daily, oftentimes violent, demonstrations break out in the streets of Montreal and throughout Quebec. Smoke bombs are set off in the Metro. Students are forced to leave classrooms while protesters storm their campuses and harass them. All of this in protest to a $325 increase per year, for five years, to the lowest tuition in Canada. Astonishing.
Once these strikes are finished, Quebec students will still be paying one of the lowest tuition rates in North America. As an Ontario student this fact alone makes these strikes incredibly difficult to relate to.
The most confusing part of this entire spectacle is how in some circles, the Red Square appears to be catching on across the country. Let’s keep it simple and look at Ontario. A petition has recently surfaced with several Carleton University students’ names on it. It is addressed to the Canadian Federation of Students and it calls on them to bring a strike vote to Ontario this fall.
Several things are wrong with this picture. First of all, it assumes that the approach in Quebec has had success worthy of cross-country application. This is simply not true. All the Quebec protests have done is irritate the general population trying to go about their daily lives, physically and verbally attack fellow students, shut down post-secondary education for the year, cost students tens of thousands in tuition money and work opportunities and outright reject, on ideological grounds, any of the honest concessions offered by the Charest government.
Quebec has for years attempted to fund the most over-the-top socialist welfare regime with no concern for the long-term effects. Now, the long-term effects are becoming evident. Quebec can no longer maintain the lowest tuition in North America. For too long, the province has relied on high taxes as well as the rest of Canada through staggering equalization payments to fund these social programs. About time, if you ask this student, that they start paying a more fair share of their bill.
So, why would anyone want the Red Square to go cross-country? We just saw a huge step in the right direction with Premier McGuinty’s tuition rebate plan in Ontario. Sure, the rebate doesn’t cover every single student, and it shouldn’t do so. The rebate represents a start in the right direction and an example of how effective lobbying, instead of violence and protests, is the best way to bring about meaningful change. A strike in Ontario would lead to a deadlock similar to the one that we are seeing in Quebec. No results are guaranteed. Moreover, it would mean graduating later and waiting longer to actually make a decent salary.
Another question that begs to be answered is why would the CFS play such an active role in pushing these strikes beyond Quebec? It’s simple. If the strike moves beyond Quebec, it presents a huge financial opportunity for the CFS
to profit from student associations across the country purchasing materials, produced by the CFS, that are related to the strike. The CFS would then use this money to pay off their staff, which have yet to produce any real results for students and continue to put corporate interests before student interests.
Lobbying and campaigns can be effective when done correctly and carried out by competent people. Student “strikes” in Quebec have only proven to be destructive, sensationalist, and have accomplished very little.
It is clear that we need a unified stance in Ontario. If you want to graduate on time and with as little debt as possible, then I urge you: beware the CFS and beware the red square.
Sean White
CUSA Public Affairs Councillor
