Petition asks Quebec to reverse decision not to fund Dawson College expansion

A petition on the Quebec National Assembly website is urging the government to reverse its decision not to allocate $200 million to the expansion of Dawson College.

Earlier this month, the government announced that it had chosen to expand French-language CEGEPs rather than spend money on the English college.

Dawson administrators expressed their dismay shorty after in a public press conference, explaining that the CEGEP has suffered from severe space shortages for decades and had been placed on a priority list for funding only a few years ago.

The English-language CEGEP, which also has a significant number of francophone and allophone students, has a deficit of over 11,500 square metres.

MORE: Budget or language? Quebec’s English community upset by Dawson College funding cuts

Canceled health clinic and relocated services

The government’s reversal will now force the school to relocate its health care programs to new facilities and cancel a health clinic which students were going to use for training, as well as it serving the local community.

The government insists that Dawson can solve its space shortage by renting, but the school says the decision to expand was approved in accordance with the Education Ministry’s own standards and guidelines regarding teaching facilities.

The petition states that the government’s cancellation of the project will have a negative impact on the programs offered to current and future students at Dawson College, who are entitled to the same quality of educational services as those offered at other CEGEPs in Quebec.

Those who disagree with the government’s reversal have until April 11 to sign the petition.