Quebec standoff. Gov't blinks first?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/quebec-education-minister-calls-for-truce-with-student-strikers/article2411323/ The Quebec government is showing signs of buckling under the pressure of a 10-week student strike over a planned tuition-fee hike. After several weeks of balking at holding a full meeting with the students, Education Minister Line Beauchamps agreed to meet them, though not before they agreed to call a 48-hour truce to the social unrest that has recently sparked violent clashes with police. ---------------- D - that's not what the Quebec gov't said before. At least, nothing about a 2 day peace being the only condition. ---------------- http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/quebec-premier-jokes-with-business-leaders-as-police-beat-back-protesters/article2409664/ Quebec Premier jokes with business leaders as police beat back protesters. Hundreds of protesters clashed with police in central Montreal on Friday in a sign of growing tension and violence over Quebec’s decision to hike student tuition fees. Police wielded batons and tear gas against demonstrators who massed around Montreal’s convention centre, where Premier Jean Charest was to give a speech to promote his northern-development plan. The confrontation signals a marked deterioration in a 10-week-old student movement that began as a peaceful protest against the Charest government’s decision to increase tuition fees by $325 a year for five years. When he did speak to business leaders and elected officials, the Premier joked about the protests outside, saying that his northern-development job fair was so popular, “people were running from all over the place to get in.” He also quipped that employers could offer the protesters jobs “as far North as possible.” -------------------- http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/protesters-clash-with-police-as-quebec-students-grievances-grow/article2409122/ A spring of discontent in Quebec characterized by scenes of red-clad student protesters erupted into something darker Friday. Demonstrators hurled projectiles ranging from rocks to flower pots in downtown Montreal, disrupting political events indoors and committing vandalism outdoors. Riot police fought back by swinging batons and firing rubber bullets and tear-gas canisters into the crowd. A few participants stressed one message: This isn’t just about university fees anymore. Students and environmentalists joined forces against a conference on Mr. Charest’s cherished Plan Nord. An investigative show on the French-language CBC showed a provincial Liberal organizer — and onetime prominent organizer for the Harper Tories — discussing the Plan Nord while being surreptitiously videotaped. That organizer, Pierre Coulombe, was videotaped suggesting to reporters, who pretended to be potential clients, that they could have access to Plan Nord decision-makers for a fee. ------------- D - G&M is frustrating. Stellar news coverage. Slick-looking web interface. And... POS search engine. There is no way to narrow down search results. This combo makes G&M the 'dumb blonde' of the online news world. Sad. With a decent search engine, it'd be KING. D- about HALF the Quebec student signed some pact decrying the use of violence in protest. By extension, HALF did not. D - I've made my case for low, even token, university tuitions before. (See blog on accessibility, and 1 before.) The political right has tried to reframe the Quebec tuition protests as: 1) an unjustified sense of untitlement 2) being behind the times, and out of touch with contemporary fiscal reality 3) diminishing the autonomy of various universities, who become solely reliant on direct gov't funding, 4) starving the Quebec universities of funding, leading to inferior education. As my recent blogs attest, the political right is pretty much clearly and demonstrably WRONG on every count! Aside- I tried to send one blog link to the Quebec federation of student, but the e-mail did not reach the other end. Interesting.