With the start of the new school year imminent in CEGEPs and the rest of the education network, the CSN union and its education federations are pleading with the province to change their positioning on budget cuts
The union, which represents the vast majority of workers in Quebec CEGEPs and universities and also represents support staff in elementary and high schools, said they want to see the CAQ make education and higher education a priority during a press conference on Tuesday.
In June, the government asked the province’s school service centres to reduce their expenses by $570 million for the next year. Then, after weeks of mounting pressure and a petition, they later announced an additional $540 million in investments in education with some conditions.
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The CEGEP network is still affected by certain cuts.
“There’s still a $30 million cut in place for education this year, a $151 million reduction to the financial allocation for CEGEPs this year, and an estimated $30 million in cuts for the university network,” said Ryan William Moon, Vice-President of the Fédération des professionèles–CSN (FP-CSN).
Moon says there is expected to be a reduction of services across the entire CEGEP network, including specific projects.
“These are contracts that are usually four years and the uncertainty that has created a situation where in some of our CEGEPs in the college network, they’ve had to reduce staff, even staff that’s in direct relationships with students,” he said, adding that one CEGEP had to cut a psychologist.
“It’s not the time to cut these type of services in the networks.”
The unions propose solutions like drawing on the Generations Fund to avoid cuts and they also call on the government to replace Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry and Education Minister Bernard Drainville in the Legault government’s planned cabinet shuffle this fall.
In a statement to CityNews, the office of Quebec’s Education Ministry says: “We are currently working with the entire school system to offer our students, their parents, and our school teams the best possible start to the school year. For the second year, teaching assignments ended on August 8. This is a major step forward in providing greater stability and peace of mind for parents. We will provide an update in the coming days, with complete transparency, as we do every year. Instead of always being negative, we invite the unions to work with us in the best interests of our students to ensure that the next school year is a success.”
Gaza protests in CEGEPs, universities: ‘Discomfort is completely normal,’ CSN says
With the new school year starting in Quebec’s CEGEPs and universities, protests related to the war in Gaza are expected to continue.
The CSN union, which represents CEGEP teachers and university lecturers, believes it is normal to experience “unrest.”
During a press conference on Tuesday, the president of the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et enseignants, Benoît Lacoursière, said there have always been protests in universities and CEGEPs.
He stated that “there is a genocide in Gaza” and that “students want to be at the forefront of denouncing this phenomenon seems to us to be a completely legitimate stance.”
Lacoursière believes that higher education institutions currently have “all the tools they need to manage situations and prevent unrest” and do not need further oversight of academic freedom.
As for students who say they are apprehensive about the start of the academic year, given the tensions, Lacoursière maintains that “discomfort is completely normal in higher education; we’re here to discuss ideas too.”
He did, however, agree that “all students should feel safe on our campuses.”
At his side, CSN vice-president Katia Lelièvre indicated that the union “took a stand for Palestine, took a stand to liberate Gaza, to put an end to the genocide.”
She also believes that “it’s normal, I think, that protests of this nature are happening in our CEGEPs. And I think it’s healthy in our CEGEPs and universities.”
Furthermore, just days before the cabinet reshuffle announced by Premier François Legault, the CSN, which had already called for the resignation of Minister of Higher Education Pascale Déry, also called for the replacement of Minister of Education Bernard Drainville.
Even though the minister has essentially backed down on the budgetary restrictions requested for the school system, the bond of trust has been broken, the union concluded.
At the end of the school year, Minister Drainville announced that the system would have to find savings of $570 million by reducing direct student services as little as possible. But, in the face of growing discontent, Quebec announced in mid-summer that it would reinject $540 million.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews