Who’s Really Spoiled?

Hike-Supporters: Be a Part of the Solution

OpinionsPierre Chauvin — Published September 25, 2012

For months, those two words were at the forefront of the anti-strike rhetoric.

The main argument supporting the $1,625 hike was that students could afford it—those whining, Canada Goose-clad students with the latest iPhones.

The fact is, the bulk of the hike would not have impacted most of the students who were on strike, yet they invested a lot of time and energy to fight for future students to have affordable education.

And this did not come without personal cost.

Several weeks ago, a student association at the Université du Québec à Montréal, l’Association facultaire étudiante des sciences humaines, set up a solidarity fund to help students who were not getting financial aid for the month of September. Food baskets were also set up to help students in need.

Picketing classes day after day, marching through Montreal every evening and sometimes spending the night at the local Poste de Quartier after the mass-arrests the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal mastered this spring—students were left with little time for gainful employment.

And now, after spending months fighting against the government, all students are back to class. The tight schedule of the Law 12-imposed classes—a month and a half instead of three to finish the winter semester—doesn’t allow for a full-time job beyond class.

In the end, students who were on the picket lines and in the streets are paying for it.

The real spoiled brats are the ones who could afford not to be on strike. The ones for whom personal gain was more important than the solidarity shown by striking students towards a goal that will benefit all of us.

The ones who launched expensive class-action lawsuits against entire universities for not clamping down harder on strike activities. The ones who for months never showed up to debate at our General Assemblies.

There are still many things within our universities that need to be discussed, from the lack of accountability on the Board of Governors to the current model of “financial aid” available to students.

The summit on education promised by Premier Pauline Marois will happen in the coming months. Hopefully, by then supporters of the hike will be able to put down their ad-hominem attacks and bring some constructive arguments to the table.