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Rogerio Barbosa / AFP - Getty Images
A student protester in a panda suit confronts a policeman in downtown Montreal on May 17, 2012. The students are striking over a planned tuition hike of 82 percent or over $1,700 as part of the government's efforts to rein in a budget deficit.
Reuters reports — Quebec's government moved late on Wednesday to end a sometimes violent 14-week mass student strike in the Canadian province that officials fear could harm the economy and deter tourists.
Rogerio Barbosa / AFP - Getty Images
Policemen aim a teargas gun.
Premier Jean Charest said his government would shortly unveil legislation to ensure students could freely attend classes, although he did not give details. He did not address speculation that the bill would allow strikers to be fined.
"It is time calm was restored ... the current situation has gone on for too long," Charest said in a late-night statement to reporters.
Some 155,000 people - more than a third of the college and university students in the predominantly French-speaking province - are striking to protest against a steep rise in what are some of the lowest tuition fees in north America. Read the full story.
Rogerio Barbosa / AFP - Getty Images
Rogerio Barbosa / AFP - Getty Images
Policemen restrain a student protester.
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Occupy Saint Jacques Street?
How do these cops sleep at night..
I don't think I have even heard of this? But when you have a government that pays to everything, and they need money, and you have the lowest price for education in N. American, what the frink are these people bitching about.
Have they NOT heard that the whole world economy is in the sh*t hole and that taxes are going to rise and the free ride is over for the socialists who expect every thing, "but NOT with My money mentality."
Exactly. At least they have paid healthcare. I understand why young people in the US would have torches and pitchforks. Canadians not so much.
I did laugh at the picture of the Panda staring down the riot police. That's just a great spectacle.
Steven100
Just to be clear, when you say "a governement that pays for everything", it means the government uses the taxes that people pay.
Wakehead
Everyone pays for it, whether they get sick or not, through taxes. So the lucky ones who never get sick do their part for the society, and the unlucky ones who do get sick don't end up losing everything.
I can see why Canada would want to raise tuition. That's the only way they are going to ration education, increasing financial inequity in the society, decreasing economic mobility for the underclass and ensuring an uneducated electorate easily susceptible to manipulation by well-funded political campaigns. In short, it's the only way they will succeed in importing the problems of the US into Canada. Considering all of the raw materials that Canada exports, it's only fair that we send them some of our own organic waste products in return.
I wish tuition was this low in the US! One thing that I don't think was made clear though, is this hike per semester or year?
Now that's funny! Since the announced increase is said to be 82%...
I'm from Canada. Quebec currently has the lowest tuition rates in Canada, at about $2,700/YEAR (two semesters). Most provinces are on the order of $5000 to $6000/year. Quebecois sudents really have little to complain about. However, it is still much more than what my tuition was in Ontario in the early 90s -- around $2000/year.
The tuition increase is 325.00$ PER year over 7 years.
To be fair, dont forget that Quebec is highly taxed.... much more so than the rest of Canada...
Do you want to end the problem of rising tuitions in Canada and The USA for all times? Just fund educational institutions by a percentage of the money their graduates earn. Problem solved.
In the US, it's a bit more complicated than that. The underlying problem of unchecked tuition inflation needs to be addressed. Most colleges have had no motivation to become efficient in delivery of education.
Quebec students pay an average of 1500 to 2000 per semester....along with Newfoundland, the lowest tuition fees in Canada, compared to nearly double that in other parts of Canada just so Quebec youth can stay in school (the group least to stay in school). Quebec also has extremely liberal student loan programs and financial aid (non refundable). The government wishes to raise that over 7 years and now we have this strike going on. No sympathy from me whatsoever especially when I see my fellow taxpayers having their residences and store fronts vandalized, cars overturned, my streets blocked to hinder me from getting to work and causing all sorts of traffic gridlock. The students claim they don't have money for the rising fees but they have their iPhone4s, their late model cars, latest style of hip clothing, weekend booze binges, their loft style living in the Plateau and their annual trips to Cuba and the D.R. They're so stupid that their actions may have caused them to loose a year if not two from graduation but I fervently hope the government does not give to these gangsters.
We're definitely at a turning point with the business as usual, politics of higher education! Happy to see Canadian students and others chiming in!!!