The Montreal Gazette reports this morning, “Student leaders were upbeat Tuesday night emerging from a meeting with Education Minister Michelle Courchesne that lasted less than an hour, saying the minister even agreed to discuss their proposal for a moratorium to delay implementing the $1,788 tuition hike that sparked the dispute. …In the evening, the minister met representatives of the four student associations leading what they call a strike, and the government insists is a class boycott, to assess the state of Quebec’s 14-week conflict and find solutions to the tuition dispute.”
“Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois of the CLASSE, Coalition large de l’Assocation pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante was almost glowing in his praise for Courchesne, whom he said listened to the students and understood issues former education minister Line Beauchamp did not. ‘The CLASSE comes out of this meeting relatively satisfied,’ said Nadeau-Dubois, reputedly the most radical of Quebec’s student representatives. ‘The discussions were pretty cordial with Madame Courchesne. We unblocked certain channels of communication that were blocked by misunderstandings on the part of Madame Beauchamp,’ he said, adding the minister did not make an offer, but listened as the four student associations presented their common position.”
Nadeau-Dubois spoke at our ‘Indignez-Vous! Hope In Resistance’ conference in Montreal this past October. To watch his 13-minute speech at our conference, please go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rNbP3XrOMc&feature=relmfu (part 1, 7 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9994N9HQ0A&feature=relmfu (part 2, 6 minutes)
