BY SANDY WHITE - “On one hand are the students and their supporters in the unions and other so-called progressives; on the other are Quebecers who are unsatisfied with the dismal economic status quo,” correspondent Sandy White writes.
MONTREAL - As the tuition protests lurch into their 12th week, what began as a debate between students and the government has morphed into a broader struggle between two schools of thought that have long divided Quebecers. On one hand are the students, along with their supporters in the unions and other so-called progressives; on the other hand are those Quebecers who are unsatisfied with the dismal economic status quo and recognize that further entrenchment of the province’s social-welfare state is both financially unfeasible and damaging to the long-term growth of Quebec.
As a student myself, I sympathize with some of the grievances of the boycotters. (I refuse to call them strikers as this is generally reserved for paid employees.) In the almost 10 years of the Charest government, and in the nine years of Parti Québécois government before that, the province and its finances have been grotesquely mismanaged. It is galling that Quebec, as the highest-taxed jurisdiction in North America, can also be among the most indebted societies in the world. This smacks of government incompetence and is a legitimate reason why many Quebecers are upset with the course their province is on. As corruption probes swirl, it is a slap in the face to students to be asked to pay more for education while groups like the construction industry bleed provincial coffers only to furnish us with booby-trapped infrastructure.
But be this as it may, I do not support the actions or the demands of the students, and neither does a majority of my academic peers. Only 35 per cent of the student population has chosen to abandon their classes in their Robin Hood crusade, while the rest of us have gone about our academic year. The primary reason for this, in my case at least, is that I fundamentally do not accept the premise of the arguments put forth by the protesters.
Under different circumstances perhaps (like if we were to take advantage of our abundant natural resources in an environmentally conscious way, as do many other Canadian provinces) Quebec would have the money to continue to fund a tuition freeze, or even lower tuition. But as the province drives headlong into the territory of a Grecian financial disaster, we simply do not have the financial resources to support this.
Many students and their comrades repeat the class-war maxims that a further tax on the wealthy would eliminate the need for the increase (as though the province’s high-income earners aren’t already taxed enough). I find it hard in these circumstances not to cite Britain’s former prime minster, Margaret Thatcher, who remarked that “the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” But this would probably be lost on those so accustomed to relying on the teat of the state to support our largesse.
When looked at in the context of greater global political and economic turmoil, Quebec’s recent climate of protest is offensive. Students and their supporters would have a hard time explaining to a Syrian or a North Korean that, because tuition rates are going to rise slightly while still being among the lowest in the Western world, our citizens have taken to the streets and vandalized our cities, with some calling for a “Maple Revolution” in the same vein as movements that swept through totalitarian dictatorships of the Middle East and elsewhere in recent years. Having to explain this to non-Quebecers is embarrassing, but having to live with it is almost more so.
As the protests drag on, the students are playing directly into the hands of Premier Jean Charest: support for his government is rising while sympathy for their cause fades.
It is undeniable that an educated population is one of the most important resources a country can have. However, Quebecers have to accept that quality education comes at a price, and that, at times, sacrifices must be made in order to enjoy this privilege.
With Quebec drowning in debt as our workforce productivity slows, our industries remain uncompetitive, and our population ages, the province is going to have to own up to some hard truths – and a small increase in the cost of a university education is probably only the first of many.
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Sandy White is a law student at Université Laval in Quebec City.

Original source article: Wake up, students: Quebec is broke