The demonstrations were the latest in a series of actions linked to a student strike movement that began three weeks ago and now involves up to 230,000 secondary and post-secondary students.

“We’re on strike because we need a[n education] system that’s inexpensive,” Mélanie Cadieux, a striking student who had also participated in a mass demonstration four days earlier, told the Militant. “The government wants a system for those who can pay for it. I won’t be able to. I earn only $8,000 a year. They will keep the elite. We have to be unified and in solidarity against the injustice that will be created. They want people who have the same mentality that they do.”

Tim McSorley, spokesman for the Canadian Student Federation, one of the three student groups organizing the protests, told the Toronto Globe and Mail students in Quebec are trying to set a precedent in forcing a provincial government to retreat on cuts that others have succeeded in imposing.

Students in Quebec had received more than 40 per cent of financial aid in bursaries and the rest in loans, the Globe and Mail reported. They had carried a debt load of about half the national average of $25,000, and their tuition fees of $1,800 per year were the lowest in the country.

Quebec premier Jean Charest’s Liberal Party government has been on the defensive on this question. In a February cabinet reshuffle he replaced the education minister who had imposed the latest cuts. On March 15, the new minister, Jean Marc Fournier, offered to put $29 million back into bursaries,.

In a ploy to divide and conquer, Fournier has said he would not meet with the Coalition of the Association of Student Union Solidarity and Allies (CASSÉÉ). He demanded that the group condemn some of the student occupations of government buildings, which had caused some property damage during police repression against the protesters. Fournier said he is willing to meet with the Federation of Quebec University Students (FEUQ) and the Federation of Quebec College Students (FECQ), which have also backed strike action and are demanding that the cuts be rescinded. These groups sponsored the March 16 actions. CASSÉÉ was the initiator of the student mobilizations and has asked the other associations not to meet with Fournier unless they are included. The FEUQ and the FECQ have said they would be willing to meet with the minister of education by themselves, but have insisted that the $103 million cut is not negotiable.

“We are here to maintain our rights,” said Veronique Pronovost. “We are doing it in a peaceful manner. It’s a shame that it’s the violent actions that get the media’s attention.” She explained that she and her friends had written a letter to the media and had obtained 1,000 signatures within the last few days and yet no newspaper had printed it. The letter quotes the official web site of the governing party: “In social matters, the basic principle laid down by Liberals allows for no misunderstanding. Economic growth should not occur at the expense of the most disadvantaged members of society.”

Students at the English-language Concordia University voted to strike for one day on March 16. University of Montreal's École Polytechnique (the engineering faculty) and McGill University graduate students, often viewed as more conservative, have also voted to support the protests with one-day strikes.

Teachers with their union flags were part of the latest street protests. Several teachers unions are in contract talks with the provincial government. They have also been part of a coalition demanding that the government stop funding private schools and instead put those resources into the public school system.

Spokespeople for CASSÉÉ said the struggle is not just about the latest $103 million cut but all the “reforms” of the education system. “The perspective is for free education and the abolition of the student debt,” said a representative of the group.

Among other “reforms” students oppose is the government’s attempt to decentralize the college system. Pierre-Olivier Paquin told the Militant he would lose one year of college if he transfers from Sherbrooke to Montreal, as he plans. “I’m against all the budget cuts,” he added. “Health and education should be the priorities. I heard on TV that 68,257 patients are waiting for surgeries only in Quebec! It’s deplorable!”  
 
 
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