This month, scandals about the disastrous state of the Quebec college network have been widely reported in the media. At Cégep de Sherbrooke, classes are held until 11 p.m. because the classrooms are too crowded. At Collège Lionel-Groulx, the cafeteria cannot even accommodate half of the students enrolled, forcing them to eat in their cars. At Cégep de Saint-Laurent, one building has been closed for two years due to fears of flooding. At Cégep de l’Outaouais, pieces of brick are falling from the buildings.
CEGEPs are falling apart, literally. Yet François Legault praised his record on education when he resigned. It’s laughable. In two years, more than 4,400 students have been denied access to a CEGEP due to a lack of resources to accommodate them. This is the price to pay for the $538 million in budget cuts imposed by the CAQ government last summer.
Legault is not the only one to blame for this crisis. From the cuts made by the Liberals under Couillard to the PQ’s “zero deficit” policy under Lucien Bouchard, the list of governments that have contributed to the ruin of schools is long. Austerity is not just a bad political choice: it is the diktat of capitalists who want to privatize in order to maximize their profits.
The president of the Federation of CEGEPs said, ‘It’s cracking all over. ’ The crack is mainly that of capitalism in crisis, which is no longer able to meet such a fundamental need as education.
– Nicolas D., Québec City
