The federal government maintains that it does not have the power to intervene in the Legault government’s decision to increase university tuition fees for students coming from outside the province starting next year.
Tuesday morning, Canada’s federal Minister of National Revenue Marie-Claude Bibeau admitted to being worried about the fate of Bishop’s University, in the borough of Lennoxville, also located in her riding. Nearly a third of this university’s students come from other Canadian provinces.
“I hope that the Quebec government will reassess the situation, that Bishop’s University was in their blind spot,” the minister declared to the media a few moments before entering the cabinet meeting in Ottawa.
Asked whether the federal government could play a role in reducing the impacts of the measure, Minister Bibeau simply replied that it was “a provincial jurisdiction”.
The university expects to lose “the majority” of its students from the rest of Canada due to rising tuition fees.
The Minister of Public Services and Procurement Jean-Yves Duclos, for his part, attested that the federal role was first and foremost one of funding research, grants and scholarships for students.
The government is also not considering increasing these scholarships in response to the measure. “This research and student funding has increased in recent years and will continue to increase. But there is obviously a role for the Quebec government that we totally respect.”
The Quebec minister remained unclear as to whether this increase in tuition fees would have harmful effects. “I know several people who would not have come to Quebec if there had not been the chance to study in an English-speaking university while learning French in Montreal,” he said.
Last week, Minister François-Philippe Champagne also declared that “it was up to Quebec to make this decision”, but he expressed concerns about the “message” sent.
Starting in fall 2024, Canadian students will have to pay $17,000 per year, rather than the current $8,992. Premier François Legault defended the decision, insisting that Quebec taxpayers should not have to subsidize students from outside the province.
This measure should mainly affect the three English-speaking universities of Quebec — Concordia, McGill and Bishop’s.