Who will lead the Quebec Ministry of Education? The hypotheses were circulating during the day on Tuesday. If Jean-François Roberge has managed the feat of remaining four years as minister, “new blood” and a “strong” minister would be welcome, say the speakers. The network is also cautiously waiting to see if, as François Legault said on Monday evening, education will indeed be “the priority of priorities”.
“If Mr. Roberge is not named, we will not be disappointed. I think we need new blood, ”launches Caroline Quesnel, president of the National Federation of Quebec Teachers (FNEEQ-CSN).
An opinion shared by the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE). “Minister Roberge did not deliver the goods in his last mandate,” commented the president, Mélanie Hubert. We are going to want someone who will listen and who will have more realistic solutions, and who will tell people the truth”.
During the election campaign, François Legault did not guarantee that Mr. Roberge would remain in office as Minister of Education and told reporters that he was “spoiled for choice”, adding that he would “think about it more seriously on October 4 ”.
“There is the team we had with Isabelle [Charest] and Jean-Francois [Roberge]. And there are others who have been added. We have a lot of former school principals, teachers, we have a president of a teachers’ union, we have many, many. The difficulty is to choose,” he said.
The premier is referring in particular to Suzanne Tremblay, former president of the Syndicat de l’enseignement de l’Outaouais, affiliated with the FAE, who was elected in Hull with nearly 2,800 votes in advance. His former federation remains cautious in its comments. “Educated candidates, for us, it’s not so much where they come from as what they will do and say. We often feel a change of discourse when we come to power. We have to take the party line and we deny our old principles a little, ”comments Mélanie Hubert.
By browsing the biographies of CAQ elected officials available online, The duty noted that a few, in addition to Jean-François Roberge, worked in the field of education.
This is the case of Mario Asselin, who was a school principal for fifteen years, and Minister Andrée Laforest, who was an elementary school teacher between 1988 and 1994. Yves Montigny, elected in René-Lévesque and former mayor of Baie-Comeau, is a teacher by training. Just like Luc Provençal, elected in Beauce-Nord and a career teacher, and who was mayor of Beauceville from 2009.
Jean-Bernard Émond, elected in Richelieu, has worked for five years as a teacher in vocational training and has a degree in pedagogy. Mathieu Rivest, now CAQ MP for Côte-du-Sud, was a music teacher at the Cégep de La Pocatière and acting director at the Center d’Etudes Collégiales de Montmagny. Jean-François Simard, elected in Montmorency, was a professor at the University of Quebec in Outaouais from 2004 to 2018.
On the side of the Centrale des Syndicats du Québec (CSQ) and representatives of school management, we are holding back the blows against Jean-François Roberge and we are ready to work with whoever will be named.
“If François Legault tells us that education is his priority, we expect him to put a strong minister at the head of the network, with stability, because there are a lot of issues,” comments Nicolas. Prévost, president of the Quebec Federation of Educational Establishment Directors (FQDE). We appreciated the stability of four years with Jean-François Roberge. He was a minister ready to work with the partners. We would like a minister who takes into account the expertise of people on the ground”.
“We would like a minister who listens, adds Carl Ouellet, president of the Quebec Association of School Management Staff (AQPDE), without wanting to comment on potential candidates or Jean-François Roberge. We would like upstream fieldwork and consultations, where we can discuss ideas together”.
From words to deeds
In his victory speech on Monday evening, Prime Minister François Legault caught the attention of the network by giving pride of place to education. “The priority of priorities must remain education,” he said quickly at the start of his speech, to shouts and applause.
“We will continue to promote the teaching profession. […] We must continue to help the 25% of children who have learning difficulties if we want to increase success. We must continue to renovate our schools, ”he then listed.
A statement that has made more than one jump, and which has reinforced some. “We were a little surprised, slips the president of the FQDE. We were very happy to hear it. But that contrasted with the electoral campaign, where we had denounced that little was said about education and that we were not tackling the fundamental problems”.
Actions will have to follow words, thinks Éric Gingras, president of the CSQ. “We didn’t really hear it during 36 days of campaigning,” he said. We will hope that Mr. Legault does not give in to the temptation to govern without humility and with arrogance.
“We can’t wait to see his priorities,” commented Carl Ouellet. Even today we have vacant chairs in our schools, we want to quickly find solutions to the labor shortage”. The mental health of students is also a subject of concern to his association.
Radio silence on higher education
For its part, the FNEEQ denounces “a silence” around higher education. “The CAQ platform contained absolutely nothing on higher education, as if training in Quebec ended at the age of 16,” says Caroline Quesnel, who represents 85% of CEGEP teachers and 85% of university lecturers.
Like the other players in the field with whom The duty discussed, the federation calls for the maintenance of two separate ministries for education and higher education.
“We have to continue down this path. We want to remind people that it’s a good thing to do, because there are enormous but distinct needs,” emphasizes Ms. Quesnel.
“The student population is better served by a separation of departments,” agrees Maya Labrosse, president of the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ). She notes several important issues to consider, including mental health and student precariousness. “We are also talking about student housing, financial compensation for internships and sexual violence on our campuses. We hope there will be proactivity,” she said.
Joined by The duty on this subject, the cabinet of François Legault has indicated that it does not want to speculate on the formation of the council of ministers at this stage. “Mr. Legault will take the time in the coming days to look into the matter,” said his press secretary, Nadia Talbot, by email.
For its part, the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BIC) did not wish to grant us an interview or answer our questions.