Dawson students call on Quebec to revive CEGEP's expansion project

A petition created by members of the DawsonStudent Union (DSU) demanding the Quebec governmentreverse its recent decisionto shelve the school's long-awaited expansion project was tabled in the National Assembly Wednesday morning.

Jennifer Maccarone, the MNA for the WestmountSaint-Louis riding, presented the petitionin the legislature on behalf of the students, with some of them in attendance.

After circulating on social media and being available on the National Assembly website since Feb. 22, the petition garnered nearly 20,000 signatures, falling short of its 30,000 goal.

The petition states that the CEGEP is "suffering from a space deficit of more than 11,000square metres" the size of 10 typical office floorsand says cancelling the project"will have a negative impact on programs offered to current and future Dawson College students."

The CEGEPcommunity was outraged by a January decision to quash the planned $100-million projectin favour of more funding forFrench-language CEGEPs. The Ministry of Higher Education had asked Dawson Collegerepresentativesto instead work on alternatives to the expansion, such as renting additional rooms.

At a news conference Wednesday, Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Angladesays scrapping the project, which has been seven years in the making,sends a message to all English-speaking CEGEPs that they are not a priority.

"It'sa matter of equity, and that'swhy we support the petition presented today," she said, alongside Maccarone and members of the DSU.

Maccaronenotes the expansion project wasprioritized by the Coalition Avenir Qubec government in 2020, and according to her, itwas abandoned without proper justification.

"They now have an opportunity to do the right thing," she said.

CBC News contactedthe Ministry of Education for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Overcrowding a 'safety hazard,' studentssay

Currently, Dawson studentslack 30 per cent of the space they are entitled to, according to the Ministry of Higher Education's own norms.DSUpresident Alexandrah Cardona says the goal of the project is to createmore space, not bring in more students.

Cardonasays going ahead with the expansion project is a question of fairnessand would not amount to preferential treatment for Dawson students.

She says the CEGEP's escalators and elevators are regularly packed, and social distancing, even during the height of the COVID-19pandemic, has beenimpossible.

"Frankly, it's a safety hazard," she said.

Cardona saidthe CEGEP is already renting additional classroomsand that has not effectively made up forthe space deficit.

The Dawson expansion would have created a new health-care pavilion, which was to havehoused a community clinic and the school's seven health-care programs.

Arwen Low, vice-president of external affairs forthe DSU, says the CEGEP'smedical programs serve the entire province.

"Our graduates from the health-care programs do not become anglophone nurses, doctors and technicians. They become Quebec nurses, doctors and technicians, and they serve in every region, in French as well as in English."

Cardonasays the petition is a message to the government, but it's not the end of the students' efforts to bring the plan to fruition.

"We will continue to mobilize if in fact the project is not restored to the priority it was," she said.