28 | May | 2012 | Micheline's Blog

There were more demonstrations this weekend, but it appears the students will now talk with the Premier, Monsieur Jean Charest, and his new Education Minister, Michelle Courchesne. It appears, in other words, that the government is about to make the students a new offer.

As I have already written, the students were puppets in these events and they are the sons and daughters of puppets. In the 1960s, the Quebec Government threw religious orders out of the province’s schools and hospitals, the Séparatiste movement grew and everybody was promising a better deal. But that better deal was a mirage.

I believe this is how the story goes:

Part of the better deal has been a nearly-free education. I now know why Quebec universities started hiring very few full-time teachers. Courses have been taught by part-time teachers: chargés de cours. Some chargés de cours have not been inconvenienced by this arrangement because someone else in their household receives a normal salary.

But other university teachers have had to travel from university to university in order to earn a meagre living. This is still the case, except that many university teachers have been able to find positions outside Québec and will never come back here.

I hope the students have learned that universities in Quebec are simply beginning to align themselves with universities outside Quebec and that they rejected an excellent offer. Outside Quebec, students pay tuition fees that are at least twice the amount Quebec students have been paying.

Health

Even healthcare was going to be better than anywhere else in Canada. Well, it is acceptable, but it is not better. That too was a mirage.

In fact, if a Québécois travels to another province in Canada, and needs to see a medical doctor, his or her Quebec health-card will not be accepted. A patient may be reimbursed the fees he or she has paid to see a doctor, but not necessarily. It is often easier simply to pay out of pocket, if one has the money, and then hope to be reimbursed.

Fortunately, the Quebec health-card is valid for stays in a hospital outside Quebec, but if a specialist looks after an hospitalized Quebec patient, the doctor will send his or her bill to the patient and this bill may never be reimbursed.

The Conferences

Let me explain why this is the case. There were other conferences after Confederation, 1867. However, when the Constitution was patriated, in 1982, Quebec did not sign the documents. That was unfortunate.

So, the tail wags the dog.

Let us listen to Menuhin playing Mozart: