A tuition fee protest is gaining momentum in Quebec this week, with organizers claiming that more than fifty thousand students are now participating in an ongoing student strike. Students have taken to the streets of Montreal several times this week, with one group shutting down a major city bridge at the start of rush hour this afternoon. Riot police dispersed the protesters with pepper spray, re-opening the span after twenty minutes. The size of today’s main march has been estimated at five thousand.
The students are mobilizing against planned annual fee hikes that would raise annual tuition from $2168 to $3793 over the next five years.
The anti-hike protests are controversial in some quarters, as Quebec’s tuition rates are far below the national average. But as I noted on Twitter a few minutes ago, the idea that the average tuition rate is the right tuition rate is incredibly pernicious. If you start from the premise that every tuition rate below some “average” benchmark should properly be raised, then each tuition increase justifies the next one.
Or, to put it another way…
Quebec students protesting tuition hikes pay lowest tuition in Canada. BECAUSE THAT’S HOW YOU KEEP IT THAT WAY. *cough*
— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) February 23, 2012
More on the Quebec protests soon.
studentactivism.net 
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February 24, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Monica Mason
Students who truly care about solidarity with those less fortunate should insist on HIGHER tuition. If those who can afford more pay more, there would be more financial aid for those who truly need it. There is very little financial aid for the poor at present, since everyone gets financial aid, no matter their inclome level.In Québec, people with higher incomes pay more taxes, contribute more to the health services fund, contribute more to public transit, etc., so that social services and housing are available to the less fortunate. This is true solidarity. As a student, I am sickened every time I hear a fellow student say “I could pay more, but others can’t, so nobody should pay more.” This is hypocrisy.
February 25, 2012 at 9:16 pm
Sunday Reading « zunguzungu
[…] Quebec Student Strike Against Tuition Hikes Is Huge. And Growing. […]
February 26, 2012 at 4:19 am
Inverness (@Inverness)
Quebec must fight the language of austerity, which has creeped its way into Europe and Canada, as well. Governments are looking for excuses to push tuition hikes. Warning signs: in the UK, where tuition hikes have already ocurred, some students have been turning to sex work and gambling to finance their educations http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16157522 And yes, English students certainly don’t have to pay near what Americans do, but Cameron’s gov’t has already started moving in that direction.
February 26, 2012 at 1:00 pm
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March 1, 2012 at 2:15 am
chris902
Monica: Just like other social programs are funded by a system of progressive taxation so too should post-secondary education. As it is in Quebec. I struggle to see how it is hypocritical to think that PSE should be funded in the same manner as secondary and primary education are.
March 1, 2012 at 12:58 pm
ambzone
Monica Mason, your script is hackneyed “Étudiants socialement responsables” right-wing stuff. I know somehow you guys seem to have every news channel and their dog at your mercy right now, but be sure that most Quebecois see right through you. We live in one of the most privately concentrated media environment on the planet and that’s the only way your regressive bourgeois discourse is having any traction at all. Stand up with your fellow human beings, not the astroturf right.
July 29, 2012 at 11:03 pm
Quebec Students Fighting For A Future Worth Living
[…] last February, prompting students to walk out of classes throughout the provinces. Those walkouts quickly developed into ongoing student strikes, with many campuses closing entirely after student strike votes at general assemblies. College […]