Federations representing 225,000 university and CEGEP students in the province launched a $70,000 publicity campaign last week to advocate a tuition freeze, three weeks after issuing an ultimatum to Jean Charest.
Posters on public transit, a petition, a website (www.geldesfrais.com) and demonstrations outside the Liberal MNAs’ offices Oct. 9 will all be part of what Nicolas Brisson, president of the Quebec University Students Federation has dubbed “the biggest campaign ever organized in the history of the student movement.”
Brisson called on the premier to announce the tabling of a bill on accessibility to post-secondary education. He also said the under-funding of universities needed to be filled in by government subsidies.
In response to the ultimatum, Education Minister Pierre Reid said, “Tuition fee freeze is an engagement that will be upheld throughout our (Liberal) mandate, regardless of the outcome of the parliamentary commission on the financing of universities.”
In a Sept. 17 press release, Genevi