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May 24, 2013
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 Quebec Moves to Quash Student Protests With Harsh FinesPosted on May 18, 2012
Quebec is looking to end three months of student protests against rising tuition fees by introducing emergency legislation that would temporarily close some universities and fine the pants off of picketers blocking students and faculty from entering classrooms. Student activist leader Leo Bureau-Blouin said: “The legislation strikes a blow to the freedom of expression.” Demonstrators have interrupted classes, marched through downtown Montreal, clashed with police, halted traffic and smashed windows. The government has proposed hiking tuition in Quebec by $254 per year over seven years. The province currently has the lowest tuition fees in Canada. —ARK
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By americanme, May 22, 2012 at 2:31 pm Link to this comment
Why should I be pissed at folks who think like I do?
Duh.
And I have not yet posted any vitrolic rage you plastic white supremacist wimp.
Report thisBy the jack, May 21, 2012 at 8:28 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
gerard:
they are our future. this we agree. i wish they
would realize that education isn’t free, as some
protesters are going for. why don’t they “police”
themselves instead of complaining when the “policing”
is done for them by the authorities.
americanme:
isn’t it interesting that your vitriolic rage is only
Report thisdirected at those who disagree with your bigoted,
hateful, small minded opinions. typical of the
radical left wing of the political spectrum. sad.
By Wilson, May 20, 2012 at 10:49 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Charet is the “premier” of Quebec, not the Prime Minister.
Report thisBy americanme, May 20, 2012 at 11:45 am Link to this comment
the jack:
You are beneath contempt.
I thought folks like you all lived in tripwire compounds in northern Idaho.
Report thisBy americanme, May 20, 2012 at 11:45 am Link to this comment
the jack:
You are baneath contempt.
I thought folks like you all lived in tripwire compounds in northern Idaho.
Report thisBy gerard, May 19, 2012 at 9:17 pm Link to this comment
the Jack: If you would please note, “the young” are not all of one attitude or frame of mind. If you are referring to “the young” in the Occupy movement, most of them have decided as a group that non-violent protest is to be much preferred over vandalism and violence, which a minority of those claiming to be anarchistic tend to act out. It is also a known fact that “the authorities” whoever they are havused , in the past (and probably now use or encourage or imitate) the violent types in order to give the entire protest a “bad name”. And of course the popular media are looking for “excitement” as news and will give time and space to such violent outbreaks.
Report thisSo it is unfair to generalize “the young” as thinking this, or doing that. There are “the young” and then there are other “the youngs”. Observe carefully, and keep an open mind.
And since, behind your remarks, I sense some resentment against “the young"in general, I would encourage you to try to like them, because they are all the future we have. And suspecting them of ulterior motives, or turning against them will not help any of us.
By what's happened to Canada, May 19, 2012 at 4:12 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The spin put on the protests is that it’s all about the tuition hike. It’s not. The protestors are also concerned about how education money is spent, which usually, is not focused on education. Before the protests began there were cases of inappropriate loans and incentive payouts to upper adminitration, on top of the general trend toward ballooning administrations while class sizes grow and tuition goes up and up.
Report thisCharest is just another Canadian Conservative (he ran for the leadership of the Conservative party and became a “Liberal” only after moving to Quebec provincial politics) and the laws he has passed sqashing the right to protest is only further proof of that. Canada has a federal big C Conservative government only 37% of voters chose, and they are un-doing all that made Canada the social-democratic place many people still think it is. The Harper government is union busting, repealing fair wage laws, defunding planned parenthood and women’s groups, throwing out gun control, throwing out environmental reviews, passing tough on crime laws and upping sentences and refusing pardons for reformed prisoners. Quebec society is the jewel of Canada for they will speak out and protest while the rest of Canada lays down and plays dead while Harper’s Conservatives gut (and simultaneously control) the arts, libraries, and national broadcasting, while promote the glory of war and the military, the cops, the Queen, and the right to bear arms. Only in Quebec have they protested any of this, and now, look what Charest has done in response. Made it OK to throw dissenters in jail.
By americanme, May 18, 2012 at 12:11 pm Link to this comment
Anyone who thinks Canada is a kinder, gentler version of the US is nuts. Its leaders march in lockstep with US doemstic and foreign policy.
For that reason, it and the US have isolated themselves from the rest of this hemisphere by their insistence on continuing the bogus War on Drugs.
Report thisBy the jack, May 18, 2012 at 11:26 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
gerard:
peaceful protesting is just that - peaceful. when
they turn into criminals with criminal activity, they
should be treated as such.
as far as “eating our young”, maybe the “young” should
Report thisgrow up and start acting like adults. there is no free
ride or education. if only we in the US would start
fining and imprisoning these “young” here that act like
hoodlums, we all would be better off.
By gerard, May 18, 2012 at 10:42 am Link to this comment
Couple of things:
Report this1. Military expenses—long list of Canada’s involvements since WWI, including South and Central America, South Africa, Vietnam, Korea, Bosnia, Herzogovia, Haiti, Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan, totally between 2001-9 approx. $18B minus returned soldiers’ medical expenses. That money came at least partly from educational funds, which account for present “austerities.”
2. There is dispute among students about violence versus non-violence in protesting, so not unified, and present masks, red colors, window-breaking etc. have hardened “authoritarianism” and made divisions deeper.
Personal note: Some experience with overt student militancy in Japan (which finally resulted in fires and deaths in Tokyo) proved to me that student violence is fated to be counterproductive as it causes more harm and makes meeting on demands more difficult and finally impossible.
3. One can’t help but wonder what “authorities” are thinking about, fining students sums of money which they cannot pay, or jailing them. What possible good could that do any country? Like animals, we adults are “eating our young” in more ways than one.