Cory Morgan: The Real Reason Quebec Is Hiking Tuition for Out-of-Province Students

Quebec Premier François Legault gestures as he speaks to the media at the legislature in Quebec City on Aug. 23, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Francis Vachon)

Commentary

It’s easy to forget that Quebec came within a mere 1 percent of a positive vote to secede from Canada in 1995.

Quebec has been an uneasy member of the Confederation. It’s constantly demanding and usually gets special status within the country, although overt calls for Quebec’s independence have been muted of late.

Firebrand separatists like Rene Levesque, Jacques Parizeau, and Lucien Bouchard are now historical figures. While the Bloc Quebecois and Parti Quebecois both have Quebec’s independence within their mandates, they haven’t put the issue on the front burner for years.

Make no mistake, though. The secessionism movement isn’t gone, it’s just dormant while proponents work to create winning referendum conditions. A significant segment of Quebecers still wants to see an independent, French-speaking nation of Quebec. They’ve changed their tactic from trying to inflame and create more separatist supporters, to trying to drive out people from demographics they feel would vote against Quebec’s independence in a future referendum.

Quebec’s decision to raise university tuition fees for new Canadian students from outside the province from $9,000 to more than $17,000 next year is a part of that secessionist strategy. Premier Legault is claiming the policy is being put in place to protect the French language, but that’s clearly a load of bunk. The goal of the policy is to drive away non-French speakers. Simple as that.

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The policy will be effective, too. Students seeking out schools usually are cost-conscious. They will go to other provinces or even other countries for their education rather than be gouged on tuition in Quebec. That of course is exactly what the Quebec government intends.

The policy will be devastating for English universities such as Concordia and McGill who rely on a large number of students from outside the province. The government doesn’t care, however. Those are just casualties suffered in the pursuit of independence.

In the aftermath of the 1995 referendum, the two prime leaders of Quebec’s independence movements made statements that set the stage for the policy moves we are seeing today.

Lucien Bouchard declared a third referendum would be held once “winning conditions” were in place.

Parti Quebecois leader Jacques Parizeau was quite candid on the night of the 1995 referendum when he blamed “money and ethnic votes” for the loss. He was referring to immigrants and the Jewish community of Montreal who strongly opposed the separation movement. Parizeau went further in referring to “nous,” or “us,” when speaking of Francophones who voted for independence. He made the issue black and white by painting it as Francophones against the rest of the world.

Independence supporters realized they couldn’t win a referendum without French speakers making up a much larger portion of Quebec’s population.

Quebec has had solid control of its own immigration policies for decades. It has prioritized immigrants from French-speaking countries to keep a linguistic majority in the province. While that has been effective, Quebec has found that new immigrants tend not to be interested in provincial secession even if they speak French. They usually hold an affection for the entire country that brought them in.

Quebec’s fertility rate sits at a level of about 1.52 and hasn’t been growing despite the province offering every incentive possible, from free daycare to family allowances to try and encourage growth in French-speaking families.

If bringing in French immigrants won’t tip the scales for independence support and if Quebec’s citizens aren’t reproducing fast enough to do it, the independence movement is only left with one option: They must drive out the non-French speakers.

There has been a campaign of discrimination and harassment carried out against non-French speakers in Quebec for decades. Bill 101 has been regulating French language use in the province since 1977. It and the policies springing from it have been found to be in violation of the charter several times. The Quebec government just invokes the notwithstanding clause whenever the courts shoot down one of their initiatives.

The harassment usually appears petty, such as language police fining Chinese restaurant owners for having Chinese characters on their signs larger than French words, or punishing a company for not having French labelling above rather than below instructions on their products. But the annoyance is costly and demoralizing for non-French business owners and encourages them to move out.

The bigotry of Quebec’s tactics was in full display with Bill 21, which banned the display of religious wear for workers in the civil service. Muslims, Jews, and Sikhs had to choose between their jobs and religious adherence. Many felt compelled to leave the province, which is just what the government wants.

Separatism isn’t gone in Quebec, and the attempt to drive away non-French students is just the latest move in what is a long-term campaign to create a French state.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.