In Québec, Charest Gov't Attempts Anti-Speech & Protest Laws

In an effort to stem growing student protests in Montréal over tuition increases, Québec’s Liberal Premier Jean Charest is resorting to tactics that would make George W. Bush proud. Pointing to a need for security and ‘order,’ Charest ‘s government debated today draconian measures to squash public speech. These measures include no-protest zones, fines in the tens of thousands of dollars, and a requirement to inform police of protests 8 hours in advance.
One student leader called the move a "declaration of war" and the head of the protest group CLASSE group said protesters might defy it.

"When laws become unjust, sometimes you have to disobey and we are now thinking seriously about that possibility," Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois told a joint news conference with major union leaders. "Police repression never scared us. The demonstrations will continue tonight, I believe, every night if necessary."

Known as “Bill 78,” the proposed legislation would require student protesters to maintain a 50-metre buffer zone around schools and require any protest group of 10 people or more to contact police eight hours in advance of a demonstration or risk fines. Individuals face fines of up to $5,000. Sanctions are much stiffer for student leaders, running up to $35,000. The student associations could be on the hook for $125,000 if they break the law. Student groups that merely “encourage” blockades could also have funding and even office space rescinded.

Charest said the government had no choice but to reduce the pressure on schools that had been targeted by sit-ins and crippling blockades. His government has accused student leaders of failing to compromise during talks about the seven-year, $1,800 tuition hike that sparked the strike on Feb. 14. In actuality, the student leaders did compromise, but student bodies all over Québec rejected the deal after government officials were caught boasting in public that they had ‘won’ in the negotiations. Education minister Line Beauchamp, largely responsible for that debacle, resigned earlier in the week.

All three of Québec's main unions said the law was draconian. CSN Labour Federation headquarters in Montreal was draped with a huge red flag emblematic of the student movement against tuition hikes. National Assembly member Amir Khadir, leader of the separatist party Québec Solidaire, called on the public to find ways to disobey the special law.

"Civil disobedience is a noble thing," Khadir said in Québec City. "In my democratic perspective and that of my party, civil disobedience, when justified and morally right and commendable, it is politically appropriate."

The president of the FEUQ, which represents university students, said her association will challenge the law in court.
"The government has made a declaration of war against the student movement," Martine Desjardins told a news conference.

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