Analysis

Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Charest makes more sense than his competitors

By: The Hamilton Spectator

Posted: 08/9/2012 10:31 AM | Comments: 0

Jean Charest and his wife Michele Dionne board the Liberal campaign bus after announcing the election. (JACQUES BOISSINOT / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

If you believe the pundits pontificating on the Quebec election, Premier Jean Charest is in trouble and will have great difficulty trying to secure a fourth consecutive mandate. Indeed, after nearly a decade in government for the Liberals, it appears most Quebecers think it’s time for a change, at least according to all recent public opinion sampling.

But be that as it may, Charest is still making more sense than his competitors, at least on the subject of Quebec’s infamous student "strike," which now enters a pivotal time with classes scheduled to return in mid-August. He wants students to return to class, and points out that the actions of protesters so far have not been a strike at all, but are better described as a boycott. He’s right. Students are not unionized employees who have the responsibility and option of using labour stoppage as a tool in the employer-employee relationship.

Certainly, student protesters who want to continue expressing their displeasure with the Charest government’s handling of the ongoing dispute, and with the government’s policies overall, have the absolute right to stay away from class, and to protest peacefully and legally. But by doing so, they also accept the consequences of their actions — academic, financial and legal.

They do not have the right to threaten, intimidate and even physically disrupt classes, preventing students who don’t share their position from getting the benefit of an education they are paying for. Those actions have already given rise to Bill 78, which suspended the school year and pushed the end of the spring semester back to August-September. It also set extremely stiff fines — as high as $125,000 — for groups and individuals who block schools with picket lines or who fail to provide police with an itinerary for street protests. Is the law heavy-handed, even draconian? Possibly. But it is also appropriate given the antics of protesters who picketed schools and broke up classes in some cases.

The legal rights of all students need to be protected, including and especially those who want to complete their education. While its strategy may be flawed in part, the Charest government is at least on the side of common sense and the law. That’s more than can be said for the Parti Quebecois, which is campaigning in support of the student boycott.

The Charest government may indeed be coming to the end of its days, but it is right to stick to its guns on the student boycott, even though militant student organizations have pledged to campaign against the government. Let’s hope Jean Charest doesn’t flinch.

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