Prime Minister François Legault does not intend to exempt Bishop’s University from the new increase in tuition fees that will be imposed on foreign students or students from other Canadian provinces starting in fall 2024.
“Yes,” replied the CAQ leader when journalists asked him if he rejected the requests from Sherbrooke University. The Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, for her part assured that she was “in close communication with the rector of Bishop’s”.
In interview with THE Duty, the principal and vice-chancellor of this university in the Lennoxville district, Sébastien Lebel-Grenier, confirmed that Minister Déry said she was “sensitive” to the reality of Bishop’s. Nearly a third of this university’s students come from other Canadian provinces, while just under 15% of students are international.
The university is therefore attacked by Quebec’s measure on two fronts. She expects to lose “the majority” of her students from the rest of Canada due to the increase in tuition fees, but also two million dollars per year under the new sharing of income from foreign students. The threat is “existential”, according to Mr. Lebel-Grenier.
“The minister has never indicated that an exemption would be possible for Bishop’s, but she is sensitive to the impact of the proposed measures. She says she has no intention of closing Bishop’s and wants to consider action,” the vice-chancellor summarized. He still does not know the nature of the solutions considered by the government.
Above all, he denounces a decision “which is not based on conclusive data” and which was taken without English-speaking universities being consulted. “We are all the more angry that we reached out to the minister. We want to be a better partner for the government,” particularly to help unilingual English-speaking students train in French, he added.
Changes from fall
Friday, the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, announced that as of fall 2024, Canadian students will pay the equivalent of what their training costs the government, that is to say 17,000 $ per year, rather than the current $8,992. New international students will pay a minimum of $20,000.
Quebec also wants to put in place a system of sharing income for foreign students. The government hopes to recover $100 million, an amount equivalent to the reinvestment requested by the University of Quebec network.
Minister Déry’s announcement caused quite a stir, to the point that Prime Minister Legault felt the need to address the media on this subject on Tuesday. “Year after year, there is a decline, unfortunately, of French in Quebec and I am determined to reverse the trend. It’s nothing against English speakers, it’s for the survival of French that we must stop this trend and reverse it,” he said.
It’s nothing against English speakers, it’s for the survival of French that we must stop this trend and reverse it.
At Bishop’s, Mr. Lebel-Grenier believes that the impact of this announcement will be immediate. “We are well underway in our recruitment [pour l’automne prochain]we have hundreds of offers of admission which have been launched on the basis of [frais de scolarité] that exist, so it is clear that for our students, this poses major challenges,” he lamented.
Ottawa criticizes Quebec
The announcement from Quebec resonated as far as Ottawa. The Quebec minister and lieutenant for the Trudeau government, Pablo Rodriguez, criticized the Legault government’s decision. “For me, universities are like a window on the world. There, I have the impression that we are closing our windows a little,” he declared.
The federal Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, for his part shared an article from Montreal Gazette noting McGill University’s fears following the Quebec government’s announcement.
Returning to the National Assembly, Liberal Marc Tanguay stressed that “even the Parti Québécois recognizes that there is no study, no reasoning that could establish a link between the government’s decision and a positive impact on the French language “.
PQ MP Pascal Bérubé welcomed the government’s choice and made it clear that it did not constitute, in his opinion, a “policy for French”. “It seems to me that it is more about taking into account the fact that a French-speaking Quebecer who goes to study in Western Canada does not have the same advantages as the opposite. It’s an inequity that’s being corrected, that’s how we see it,” he said.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, from Québec solidaire, said he was preparing a “different position” from that of the government regarding “legitimate” concerns about the future of the French language. “The right solution is not to increase tuition fees,” he said.