THE GAZETTE APRIL 24, 2012
They are, after all, young and still have a lot to learn, both from formal schooling and from the exigencies of life as they grow older. As such, they may come to recognize the difference between the exercise of duly constituted democracy and mob rule, which is what they are trying to impose in support of their demands to be spared paying a fair and reasonable portion of what their education costs.
More mystifying are the delusional views being expressed by some fully formed adults who should know better than to spout such nonsense as is being widely heard these days. For example, the recent tweet from an Université du Québec professor, in its Outaouais education faculty no less, who equated the police response to the escalating violence being perpetrated in the name of the student cause to that of a "fascist state."
Or the complaint of Denis Bélisle, vicepresident of the federation representing Quebec professors, that Quebec is morphing into a "police state" because police are upholding court rulings affirming the right of nonboycotting students to attend the classes for which they have paid.
The ranks of the deluded were swelled on the weekend by a group of 18 prominent Quebecers who joined their voices to call on the provincial government to back down on the tuition increase and enter into negotiations with the students. The group included Claude Béland, former head of the Mouvement Desjardins, retired judge Robert Burns, former Liberal cabinet minister Jean Cournoyer, and Gérald Larose, former leader of the CSN labour federation and now a university professor himself.
This was a day after the violence and vandalism hit new heights, with protesters storming the Palais des congrès where a job fair attended by the premier was under way. Windows were smashed, tables and planters overturned. Nearby, a fire hydrant was opened and rocks were dropped from an overpass onto the Ville Marie Expressway.
In their statement, the eminent personalities urged the government to cave in to the protesters because the situation is "increasingly becoming a political and social dead end."
Could it be that these presumably learned and experienced people are unaware of the implications of what they are proposing? What they are saying in other words is that the mob has become so unruly that it must be appeased. And what is the lesson they would impart, to the students or any other specialinterest group unhappy with a government policy? Namely to organize a large enough mob with no respect for the rule of law and no scruples about resorting to violence in order to get their way.
The government should flatly reject this group's appeal to yield to anarchy by suspending the fee increase. It has commendably agreed to enter into discussion with student representatives about university governance, which could indeed be greatly improved in this province. But it is also rightly standing fast on the tuition increase.
The increase is not only reasonable and long overdue, but was transparently proposed by the governing Liberals during the 2008 general-election campaign, at the culmination of which they were democratically elected to form a majority government whose legitimate function is to carry through on campaign pledges. By comparison, there was no hint of the forced municipal mergers of 2001 in the Parti Québécois's 1998 election platform.
It may well be that the optimal way to resolve this wretched situation is to put the issue to the ultimate democratic test in a provincial election. It would make it clear where the majority of the taxpaying public stands on the matter, one way or the other. And the Charest Liberals would be likely to have a lot to gain from standing firm on its position while letting opponents come out in favour of cleaving to mob rule, should they wish. Recent polling suggests that it could be the Liberals' best argument for re-election.
Premier Charest has previously said he does not see this as an election issue. But if the students and their misguided supporters persist in their campaign of violence and disruption, he might want to reconsider.
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