(Quebec) The students refuse the hand extended by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), at the same time catapulting into the court of the Legault government the conflict which opposes them to the regulatory body concerning the management of their group insurance.
Posted at 12:26 p.m.
At a press conference on Friday, spokespersons representing 57 student associations called on the Minister of Higher Education, Danielle McCann, to intervene. These associations ask Quebec to manage negotiations between the AMF, insurers and students in order to ensure “neutrality” in the process.
“Quebec student associations are able to mobilize quickly to implement actions, to make things change. […] We want it to be settled before the fall,” said Cyndelle Gagnon, president of the association of undergraduate students at Laval University, CADEUL.
Danielle McCann’s cabinet replied on Friday that the position expressed by the minister the day before in parliament remained the same. “It’s important that people sit down and find a solution. From the moment we see that there is a problem, we must try to solve it and find a new way of seeing to the needs of students that is acceptable to the Autorité des marchés financiers and to student associations,” said said Mr.me McCann Thursday.
“The AMF is in negotiations with the students. It is obvious that my main concern is the interest of the insured, and I let the AMF work with the students, ”also said Thursday the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard.
The AMF asks for the “good faith” of students
Faced with the discontent expressed by student associations, the AMF declared on Friday to The Press that she “will not comment on the statements of student associations”.
“However, we would like to point out that our announcement to postpone the decision to implement the measures that were planned is based on a process of good faith and the sincere search for lasting solutions. […] In return, we invite all the players involved in this file to participate in the consultation that we are going to set up. [et] which will then be used in the report that the Authority will present to the Minister of Finance,” the organization added.
The AMF announced on Wednesday that it is suspending the application of measures which would have had the effect of depriving hundreds of thousands of students of insurance coverage from the start of the next school year. In return, the regulatory body invited student associations and insurers to participate in “a process of consultation and review of the legal framework defining the obligations of insurers with respect to the insurance products offered by student associations”.
In its initial position, which led Desjardins to announce that it would not be renewing the contracts it has with 57 student associations (a decision that has been suspended while the substantive issue is settled), the AMF asked this that membership in a group insurance plan no longer be automatically collected through the school bill.
According to Eric Sader, Vice-President Finance of the Students’ Society of McGill University, “the proposed solution [par l’AMF]is to change the insurance system from a collective system to an individual system, […] and this change will lead to the end of group insurance”.
“In a group insurance plan, the protection that students will have will perhaps cost them an average of $300 to $350. If we switch to an individual insurance plan, for the same plan, the same protection, the same student will pay up to $2,500. That’s the impact, and that’s what we can’t miss,” added Xavier Gravel, president of the Cégep de Rimouski student association.
Not a financial question
The student associations represented at the press briefing, which all do business with insurance plan provider ASEQ, also said on Friday that it received no funds from this company to purchase group insurance.
“Student insurance under ASEQ does not [donnent] to student associations no money. We do not use any money we receive from students for our operations, under any circumstances. All of this money is used to pay for our insurance,” said Eric Sader of the McGill Student Union.
ASEQ spokesperson, Marc-André Ross, also made a point of specifying to The Press that no rebates are paid to student associations.
“There has never been a rebate. Never, never never. It’s absolutely untrue,” he said Mr. Ross, also arguing that Desjardins did not engage in this practice more, which would indicate that the fight led by the associations is not fueled by concerns financial.
In addition, by way of press release, Friday, the Student Federation of the University of Sherbrooke denounced the strategy deployed in press briefings by the 57 student associations, affirming that it accentuated the social division.
“It should be remembered that the Financial Markets Authority has a role in regulating the financial markets in order to protect investors and the population against cases of financial embezzlement or possible fraud. […] We believe that certain organizations must be neutral and above the political game in order to properly protect the population. Thus, publicly undermining trust in a regulator that defends small investors with student populations is a dangerous precedent,” the Federation wrote.
With Marie-Eve Fournier