Reaction to Parti Québécois promising to expand Bill 101 to CEGEPs: ‘It would be catastrophic’

“It is crucial,” said Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon about applying Bill 101 to CEGEPs in Quebec if his party is elected in the next provincial election. Gareth Madoc-Jones reports.  Days into the Quebec election campaign, the leader of the Parti Québécois announced several measures to reverse what he says is a decline of French in the province due to the CAQ government.

One of those measures would be to apply Bill 101 to CEGEPs, meaning students who studied in French elementary and high schools would be obligated to go to a French CEGEP, rather than having the choice of going to an English CEGEP.

Toby Harper-Merrett, director general of Dawson College: “It would be catastrophic to extend Bill 101, the eligibility requirements to Dawson College. It would cut our eligible student population nearly in half perhaps. It would cause the layoff of hundreds and hundreds of faculty and staff.”

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Eva Ludvig, president of TALQ: “No doubt this will have an impact on our institutions. The fewer students that go, the fewer options there are for all the other students as well.”