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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Learning 9 to 5: Quebec party wants longer school day
Graham Hughes / THE CANADIAN PRESS Franv�ois Legault, in Mirabel, Que., Thursday, proposed longer school days. (CP)
MIRABEL, Que. -- There will be a lot less late-afternoon texting and TV watching for Quebec high school students if a new political party gets its way.
The Coalition for Quebec's Future says it would adjust secondary-school hours to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. if it wins the election, in order to better reflect the schedule of modern families and to help fight the province's high dropout rate.
Leader Franßois Legault said he wants to put an end to adolescents going home in the middle of the afternoon and playing video games alone in the house. Instead, they would participate in extracurricular activities, such as sports or cultural classes, or could get help with their homework.
"Those famous yellow buses wouldn't leave at 3:30 p.m. anymore. They'll leave schools at 5 p.m.," Legault said at a campaign stop in Mirabel, just north of Montreal.
The measure would be implemented over five years and cost $290 million when fully implemented, he said, and it would be introduced first in poor neighbourhoods with high dropout rates.
Teachers wouldn't be forced to work an extra hour, Legault said, but those who choose to would get a pay raise. The plan would have to be negotiated with teachers' unions, he said.
The promise was greeted with skepticism by one teachers' association.
Many schools already have afternoon programs on a voluntary basis, while a wall-to-wall policy change would create logistical problems for both students and teachers, said the president of the Fédération de l'enseignement, citing transportation in rural areas as one example.
"When we look at the geographic reality of Quebec and school transportation, it means that there will be students who arrive home at 6 p.m.," said Manon Bernard, whose group represents more than 60,000 teachers in different unions.
For their part, the governing Liberals accuse the coalition of making promises it can't afford with its cocktail of tax cuts and spending pledges.
One week into the campaign, the Liberals have made small, targeted promises reminiscent of those from the Harper Conservatives in their 2006 and 2008 federal election wins.
They include home-retrofitting tax breaks, $100 to help families buy school supplies and a maximum $500 tax refund for investing in companies that operate in the north.
As for the Parti Québécois, it became the second party to promise measures to protect Quebec businesses from foreign takeovers, after Legault's coalition.
The promises came amid the attempted takeover of Rona by U.S. giant Lowe's, following the purchase of Alcan by Rio Tinto several years ago.
-- The Canadian Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 10, 2012 A17
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