Despite court ruling, Quebec plans to maintain 33% tuition hike for out-of-province students
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Amid legal pushback, Quebec says it remains committed to its contentious tuition reform targeting Concordia and McGill, vowing to maintain a steep fee increase for out-of-province students.
In April, Quebec Superior Court Justice Éric Dufour ruled that parts of the overhaul were 'unreasonable' and ordered key sections struck down. The Coalition Avenir Québec government did not appeal the ruling by Monday's deadline.
Dufour told the province to immediately scrap French proficiency requirements for non-Quebec applicants and gave the government nine months to come up with a new fee structure for out-of-province Canadian students.
The government's plan had called for a 33-per-cent tuition hike for these students.
In his ruling, Dufour criticized Déry's arguments, echoing the universities' contention that the plan was put forward without sufficient evidence.
'We observe an absence of data on which the minister claims to base her decision,' Dufour wrote. 'At the very least, what she had on hand in no way substantiates the reasonableness of the outcome.'
On Tuesday, Simon Savignac, a spokesperson for Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry, indicated that the government stands by its original plan.
'The ruling not only supports the measure to correct the financial imbalance between English- and French-language universities, it also recognizes the government's responsibility to take the necessary steps to protect the French language in Quebec,' he told The Gazette.
'With regard to the tuition fees charged to Canadian students outside Quebec, we firmly believe that it is not up to the Quebec government to guarantee financial accessibility to studies for non-Quebecers.'
He said the government is 'staying the course' on the tuition hike. The government's interpretation of the ruling is that the judge did not rule that the 33-per-cent hike was unreasonable, but rather 'the path we've taken and the reasons invoked for the increase.'
Savignac said it's too early to say how the government will proceed.
Regarding French proficiency, he said Déry 'will be pursuing discussions with English-speaking universities over the coming weeks regarding the terms and conditions surrounding knowledge of French for students from outside Quebec.'
In their lawsuits, Concordia and McGill said Quebec's reforms violated equality and language rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
McGill also asserted that the measures contravened anti-discrimination provisions of Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, particularly regarding harm to its reputation and academic freedom.
However, the judge did not rule on charter issues, saying the matter could be resolved on administrative law grounds.
Like the Quebec government, Concordia and McGill did not appeal the ruling.
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