Higher Education Minister Danielle McCann has confirmed that the Legault government is abandoning the Dawson College expansion project.
In the boxes of the Couillard government, this project, on which the management of the CEGEP has been working for several years, would have allowed the construction, at a cost of 189 million, of a new pavilion devoted to programs related to the health sector. Dawson points out that the Department of Higher Education believes the college is under-spaced and would need an additional 10,000 square meters to meet departmental standards.
It’s not the only CEGEP in the greater Montreal area that lacks space. According to the Minister, 11 CEGEPs would be in this situation. The expansion of Cégep Édouard-Montpetit for 157 million and that of Cégep Ahuntsic for 138 million are already included in the Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI). Over the next five years, some 22,000 students will be added to the enrollments of French CEGEPs in the greater Montreal area, or approximately 20% more.
The Parti Québécois raised eyebrows when the Legault government put the Dawson expansion on the list of priority infrastructure projects that Bill 66, passed last year, aims to accelerate. Since then, Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette has tabled Bill 96 on the official and common language of Quebec. Still under study by a parliamentary committee, it contains provisions to curb the growth in the number of students who come from French secondary schools and choose to attend one of the English CEGEPs, of which Dawson College is the most popular.
Minister McCann went further by decreeing a 10-year freeze on admissions to English CEGEPs. For Dawson, this means that the number of students admitted cannot exceed 7,915. Dawson is not the only CEGEP to welcome more students than its number set by the ministry, but it is the one that exceeds it regularly and easily. since we jostle at the gate to take this ideal route to then pursue university studies in English. Thus, Dawson College had 8,200 students in 2020, and 8,620 in 2021.
According to the minister’s office, the Dawson project represents 75% of the sums allocated to all CEGEPs for expansions, without however specifying the period covered. The Minister indicated to the National Assembly that the government could not go ahead with the expansion of Dawson because the French-speaking CEGEPs in the Montreal region have “tremendous needs”. Funding the Dawson project would be to the detriment of French-speaking CEGEPs, we must understand.
Minister McCann acknowledges Dawson’s lack of space and believes the college should consider renting space rather than building a pavilion. Unfortunately, this does not take into account the nature of the expansion project. It must contain facilities for teaching future health professionals, with premises where an environment similar to that of a hospital is recreated with beds, devices and mannequins simulating patients. And these are not the type of classrooms that can easily be integrated into the heritage building that houses the college. This kind of pavilion for the health sector, modern and technologically advanced, is exactly what the Cégep Édouard-Montpetit plans to build. These are also formations that the CAQ government has made a priority.
It can be argued that Dawson College is more an extension of the French-language school network than an establishment primarily serving English-speakers. It’s absurd, but it’s the reality. Thus, according to last year’s data, only 34% of its students are of English mother tongue, while Francophones account for 20% and Allophones for 42%, these two groups essentially coming from the French secondary network.
If it is true that Dawson, even if it meets the minister’s 7915 student limit, cannot match the ministry’s standards and the government has no intention of correcting the situation, the only thing left is reduce the number of students attending college. Danielle McCann should present us with a reduction plan affecting both students and teaching staff.
It is true that on the political level, the Legault government would not shine by its coherence if it invested massively in English CEGEPs when it wants to reduce their relative weight. But at the same time, there cannot be two CEGEP funding regimes depending on the language of instruction. This is the kind of dilemma to which years of laissez-faire lead.