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M cGILL
Published by the Students' Society of McGill University since 1981_________________W ednesday, September 3, 2003
Vol. 23 Issue 1
Student lobbying groups demand cap on fees, threaten strike Fears of broken campaign promises fuel Q u eb ec lobbyists
Provincial lobbying groups are threatening student protests if the Quebec government does not commit to a continued tuition freeze and the regulation of ancil lary fees. La Fédération étudiante uni versitaire du Québec, of which the Students’ Society is a member, and la Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec are pressuring the gov ernm ent to fulfill what FEUQ press liaison Carole Cardinal said are broken promises by the Parti Québécois and now the Quebec Liberal Party. D uring provincial elections last spring, Liberal candidates pledged to put the tuition freeze into law in the first month of their
mandate, she said. Ancillary fees, which are charged in addition to tuition, have been proliferating in the last few years, Cardinal said. “The University has the liberty to put new fees and there’s no rules on this, so it can be of any kind,” she said. “The students at McGill are particu larly solicited on those fees.” Each university controls how its ancillary fees are spent, said SSMU president Naeem Datoo. “Generally what we’re trying to get across is that, ‘Let’s see some tangible results before you put this commission together, and if it’s not going to happen, we are going to mobilize students depending on what the results are, ” he said.
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Cardinal said universities have used ancillary fees to compensate for the decrease in federal educa tion funding since 1995. “It does vary per institution, but in regards to McGill, they pay for the administration, the infra structure, the libraries and all that McGill incurs but that isn’t covered by your tuition,” said SSMU vicepresident community and govern ment Brianna Hersey. The lobbying groups are seek ing a commitment from Liberal premier Jean Charest by September 15 to address the issue this fall rather than in the spring, when a parliamentary commission will begin to look into the financ ing of Quebec universities. If the issue of the tuition freeze is not addressed beforehand, said Cardinal, the spring commis sion could be used as an opportu nity to push it aside. “At worst they’ll change their mind about the contribution of the
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student, and at [least] they’re going to say we don’t need that law, she said. La FEUQ hopes for legisla tion freezing tuition to be present ed for consideration soon after the October 22 opening session of the National Assembly. Ideally such a law would be adopted in December, Cardinal said. “We’re conscious that it takes some time,” she said. “We don’t need to see the law project on September 15, but we need a seri ous com m itm ent from the Premier.” The tuition freeze remains important despite the fact that fees in Quebec are lower than in othër provinces, Cardinal said. “In Quebec, students from families which are less fortunate— we are thinking about family incomes that are lower than $40,000 a year— those students are more present on campus than they are in the rest of Canada,”
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Cardinal said. The success or failure of the groups' efforts could have immedi ate effects. “If this doesn’t go in our favour now, our tuition could be increased by next year and affect all of our students,” contends Hersey. Hersey said the money univer sities raise from ancillary fees could be provided in many other ways. “It could come from the provincial government, federal transfers, the interim transfers, or there are many other feasible schemes,” she said. “Most likely in Quebec, it will be funded by a relo cation of funds by the provincial government.” Hersey and Datoo both said the issue personally touches each student. “I think if' you look at the topic, it’s funding for universities,” Datoo said. “It affects every single person on this campus because every single one of us pays a fee. ■