The student strike and the savage state

By Montreal Simon

Uh oh. It looks like my Quebec student’s victory celebration party, from which I’m still recovering, was a little premature.

Students in a half dozen colleges and 10 university faculties and departments voted to reject the agreement on Monday after the Charest government boasted of having won the battle. Students at other schools are set to vote on the deal throughout the week, but the trend is clearly running against it.

So premature in fact that when I return to Montreal, after having praised this “deal” as a decent “compromise” in a post the other night, I’m going to have to wear a mask or a hoodie. So some of my friends don’t recognize me and beat me up. Or at the very least call me a fool.

But hey, how did I know that the Quebec Liberals would cheat?

After weathering criticism from members on the weekend, student leaders claimed Monday the agreement they signed was not a true reflection of the 22-hour-discussions held Friday night to Saturday afternoon in Quebec City.

They also accused Premier Charest and Line Beauchamp, the Education Minister, of gloating the government had not conceded on the tuition increases.

How did I know that I couldn’t trust the Education Minister?

How could I ever have imagined that the pathetic ex-Con Jean Charest would strut around like a barnyard rooster, crowing about how he had put the province’s students in their place, in a desperate attempt to try to take the spotlight off his corrupt government?

The big man. The big chicken . . .

Oh well. One day I’ll learn to lead with my head instead of my heart.The good news is that the Quebec students are showing amazing strength and solidarity, even if many of them face losing the whole semester.

And at a time when the Con regime is killing jobs, strangling government, and trying to turn us into a brutish petro state, they are fighting for a better and more human society.

No wonder those Quebec student protestors have been spooking the English Canadian establishment. If they get their way, the same ideas could catch on here, leaving the best-laid plans for austerity in tatters.

Helping Canadians understand that there are better models …

Under the more sensible Scandinavian approach — banned under the business dogma that dominates here — the tax and transfer system helps citizens move through the stages of their lives.

Education is paid for by those in the workforce whose retirement will later be paid for by the students whose education they paid for. Over the life cycle, it all works out. Everybody contributes when they’re working, and gets a hand at the beginning and end of their lives.

Better models than the Made in America one, or the horror of Harper’s jungle.

The savage state or l’état sauvage . . .