SARAH DESHIES
CUP Quebec Bureau Chief

Bachand vs. Desjardins: who forgot to call whom back?

Lately, the relationship between the student lobby and the Quebec provincial government sounds like a dating relationship gone sour, as both sides failed to meet in the last few months for consultations leading up to the budget, each blaming the other.

What’s more is that this communication breakdown is happening in the midst of province-wide student opposition to rising tuition fees. The 2012–13 budget will be announced on March 20, and is expected to further raise undergraduate costs, beyond the initially proposed increase at $325 a semester over five years.

Unions and lobby groups often meet with finance ministers in the months leading up to a budget announcement. After sending a memo, organizations then meet with the minister face-to-face to voice their concerns and suggestions.

Student organizations are no exception: the Canadian Federation of Students meets with the federal government, and in some provinces like Ontario and Saskatchewan, provincial student lobby groups are also often consulted by their governments.

Pre-budgetary consultations for Quebec’s next budget started at the end of October 2011.

There are, at the moment, at least five different groups representing post-secondary students in Quebec, but the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, which represents 125,000 students, has in the past been recognized as a main negotiator and liaison with the government.

In Quebec, students and the Liberal government have been in a deadlock since the government’s2011 budget announcement, which indicated that tuition fees would increase to the tune of $1,625, beginning in fall 2012. There has been widespread student condemnation of the move resulting in unlimited strikes and marches, while Premier Jean Charest, Education Minister Line Beauchamp and Finance Minister Raymond Bachand have made it clear that they don’t intend to back down on raising tuition.

FEUQ president Martine Desjardins said that her group called the ministry at the end of November to meet with Bachand for pre-budgetary consultations. She said they called back, asking for the details of their request.

Both sides spoke for 45 minutes on the phone about FEUQ’s recommendations, but then, according to Desjardins, “We didn’t get any response to that call.”

FEUQ called back in January, and emails were traded back and forth.

Meanwhile, the group requested to meet with Bachand through the Alliance sociale, a loosely-affiliated umbrella group for unions. The Alliance was turned down, according to the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), which is an Alliance member.

Pierre Patry, CSN treasurer, met with Bachand to represent his organization. Since FEUQ had not had an audience, Patrie said he would bring up tuition but explained that Bachand refused to discuss the issue. Bachand’s spokesperson said that they cannot disclose what is said at these meetings, though outside groups are free to comment.

Regardless, FEUQ drafted a 27-page memo, “Miser sur la jeunesse,” and sent it to the government via the Alliance in early February. It recommended a stronger financial aid program for students and a tuition freeze. Receiving no response, FEUQ forwarded it themselves to to the finance minister’s office on Feb. 28.

But the government says they first reached out to students, not the other way around. Catherine Poulin, Bachand’s press attaché, said that Bachand, hearing that FEUQ had done research on university funding, requested himself that the students be contacted. A finance attaché phoned FEUQ in Nov. 29, and spoke to a FEUQ representative, recounted Poulin. A followup email correspondence confirmed a student memo was forthcoming.

And then, Poulin said, they neither heard or received anything.

Finally, they received FEUQ’s memo on Feb. 28, five days after the consultation deadline.

Speaking on March 6, Poulin revealed the budget was due to go to the printers in a few days, so any hope of advising Bachand about the budget is over for students.

“They took the time to send it, so we’ll take the time to read and analyze it. But there won’t be any pre-budgetary consultations,” said Poulin.

Desjardins said she believed that Bachand met another student group that was not required to prepare a memo, the pro-hike Mouvement des étudiants socialement responsables du Québec (MESRQ). The MESRQ, whose leaders are rumoured to have ties with the Liberal Party, denied having any meetings with the government in an email.

Poulin mentioned that Bachand does not meet with the same groups each year, but did not respond to followup requests to clarify whether FEUQ was the only student group to request a meeting this year.

Desjardins is angered by the government’s “strange” explanation for not meeting. “[They are] saying it’s too late, but we’ve been asking for a meeting for two months now,” said Desjardins.

“We are the largest student group in Quebec, so it’s not usually the kind of thing we are used to,” she added. “I think it’s a way to take [away our credibility].”

Desjardins thinks that the reason the government is reluctant to deal with students may be traced back to Dec. 6, 2010. That day, several groups met with government officials in Quebec City for a summit. Students, angered by proposed tuition hikes, left the meeting in the afternoon. Protests followed, with one arrest.

Since then, Desjardins argued, the government has been reluctant to speak to students, effectively denying requests to meet for last year and this year’s budgets.

“I think we have a few recommendations and solutions for that issue, and they’re just waiting for students to get tired … and the movement to collapse,” she said. “But it won’t. Students are very determined to make the government step back.”

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Graphic: Sarah Deshaies/CUP