Legault government fires back at Mayor Plante over tuition hikes

The Quebec government’s tuition hikes for out of province students at English universities continues to stir up controversy.

“We don’t attack Montreal. We protect French. French will always be vulnerable in North America,” said Premier François Legault at a press conference Thursday, while responding to Mayor Valérie Plante’s comments from the day before – where she said that the increases for Concordia and McGill directly attacks Montreal.

“People are worried in Montreal. That needs to be heard as well. We know that we work together, we’re strung together. It’s an entire ecosystem for attract investors, students, it’s good for the businesses, it’s good for downtown by the way,” she had said.

Legault claiming that they’re not attacking Montreal, but defending the French language.

“They have many students coming from outside Quebec who would never speak French. And I think it’s a good opportunity to tell them, hey, we’ll pay you some lessons, by the way, to also learn French.”

Starting the 2024-25 academic year, Canadian students from outside Quebec will pay a minimum of $12,000 in tuition fees.

Concordia has since seen a 27 per cent application drop in applications from out-of0province students, while McGill has said it’s suffering a 22 per cent drop. 

McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s will also have to ensure that 80 per cent of their out-of-province and international students learn French.

The Premier went on to discuss how students should have to pay more for a prestigious university like McGill.

“You know, McGill is one of the best universities in the world, all right? To say that starting now, they will have to ask $12,000 a year for a student coming from the rest of Canada. It doesn’t cover the average cost. So I think it’s fair.”

Plante responding again on the topic on Thursday adding, “We have to do both: protect the French language and also support the economic vitality and protect the reputation. That means to support the universities in Montreal.”

The universities say the tuition hike, along with changes towards financing international students, could cost them tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue per year.

Quebec has given Bishop’s, which is the smallest of Quebec’s three English universities, a partial exemption to the hike.