(Quebec) Jean-François Roberge asks Valérie Plante to “change her mind” after asserting that the Legault government’s increase in university tuition fees for Canadian students is an “attack” on Montreal. A CAQ MP goes even further and wonders if the mayor wants to “erect a wall” around the metropolis to ensure its anglicization.
The words of the mayor of Montreal do not pass muster in Quebec. On Wednesday, Valérie Plante affirmed that the Legault government’s increase in university tuition fees for students from other provinces who come to study in English is an “attack” on Montreal.
“We certainly see it as a measure that directly attacks Montreal and it is not fair,” the mayor said in English in a press scrum. These remarks were reported by The Montreal Gazette. “If Bishop’s is not subject to this rule, why does Montreal have it,” added Mme Plant.
In December, the Legault government gave the green light to a 33% increase in tuition fees for Canadian students who come to study in Quebec in English, a decision contested by English-speaking universities. Quebec finally exempted Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke. The measure therefore applies to Concordia and McGill.
“Montreal is the French-speaking metropolis of the Americas. It should be more than a slogan, the mayor of Montreal should be an ally of the government in this approach,” railed Jean-François Roberge on Thursday.
When the mayor poses as the defender of the right of non-Quebecers to study in English in Montreal, I tell her “No thank you, no thanks » as she said in English
Jean-François Roberge, Minister of the French Language
The Minister of the French Language asks the mayor to “change her mind”.
“From the moment it’s a policy, it’s a strong position, well we have to walk the talk, we can’t say that Montreal is the French-speaking metropolis of the Americas and after that it’s opposing measures that defend the French fact in Montreal makes no sense,” he added.
“Build a wall”
CAQ deputies Valérie Schmaltz (Vimont) and Stéphanie Lachance (Bellechasse) even asked the media to react, affirming that Valérie Plante’s exit is “inadmissible”.
“We are a government that wants to counter anglicization in Montreal and what we hear this morning from Mme Plante, his city is being attacked. The question I’m asking myself this morning is whether Mme Plante wants to build a wall to ensure that anglicization in Montreal is there within what 5, 10 years? Is this what she wants? I’m asking myself the question this morning,” said M.me Schmaltz.
The member for Bellechasse affirmed for her part “that there are no two Quebecs”.
“There is not the Quebec of Valérie Plante and the rest of Quebec, I, as a regional deputy, I want us to protect French from one end to the other, from the Outaouais River to in the Magdalen Islands,” underlined M.me Luck.
The Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, did not want to react on Thursday.
The Press reported Tuesday that an advisory committee responsible for advising the minister had concluded that the Legault government’s measure “seems little justified and risks compromising access to quality education and depriving society of potential talents.”