Concordia Mob Squad takes aim at Quebec government

The battle over university tuition fees is heating up just two months ahead of the provincial annual budget announcement. Students from Concordia University protested outside the Ministry of Education on Thursday.

This is part of a province-wide movement demanding a tuition freeze. But the Quebec government shows no signs of letting up. They plan to raise tuition one thousand six hundred and twenty five dollars for Quebec residents.

Students at one university in particular aren’t quite ready to empty their pockets. Joel Balsam takes a closer look.

The Concordia Mob Squad aims to convince students to get active – even if that means getting out of their comfort zone. Ada Doucet is one of the group’s organizers. She hasn’t ruled out any type of action if it will help freeze tuition.

“We have the power to say no, we have the power for the government to hear our voice and I’m going to use that power.”

Quebecers already pay the lowest tuition fees in the country. The government wants to raise the price tag to keep its universities competitive.

Finance Minister Raymond Bachand says its time for students to start footing the bill.

“In 1968 the students paid 26 percent of the cost of universities, today they pay 13 percent. Who pays the difference? It’s the taxpayer.”

But a report by the Federation Etudiante Universitaire du Quebec questions where the extra money will be spent. And if a hike is nothing more than a government cash grab. The report estimates that if the hike goes through, thirteen thousand students will not be able to attend university next year.

Doucet might be one of them.

“It will effect me, I’d be considering what to do. Really, I’d be like should I take a semester off just to work and pay for the next semester? I don’t know, I have no idea, but they better not do it, they better not do it.”

Not so different for Chad Walcott. Even as a local Quebecer he may have to think twice about going to school if tuition continues to rise.

As VP External of the Concordia Student union and one of the coordinators of the Mob Squad, Walcott is at the forefront of student activism against tuition hikes. He is prepared to do whatever it takes.

Walcott lead Thursday’s protest at the Ministry of Education.

He plans to bring five thousand Concordia students to a province-wide protest on November 10^th and battle for every last buck.

“This tuition hike won’t go through, it won’t pass and we’re not gonna let it. Failure is not an option.”

As the deadline fast approaches with both sides not bending, don’t expect these students to turn down the noise.

Joel Balsam, CJLO News, Montreal. 

Photo by: Joel Balsam