Quebec student talks collapse and more protests loom

The Quebec government has pulled out of talks with student leaders meant to end the province's months-long tuition crisis.

Premier Jean Charest said a "big gap" remains between the province and students on the issue, and he's "the first to be disappointed" at the lack of a deal.

Student leaders, however, say the government is image-obsessed and is refusing their cost-neutral proposalsbecause it doesn't want to lose face over the issue.

"Iwould havepreferred that we could have reached an understanding, but unfortunately, and even though discussions were productive,there's a big gap," Charest said in anews conference Thursday afternoonoutside his office in Quebec City.

"We made great efforts, and in the end, wecame tothe conclusionthat theres an impasse."

Education Minister Michelle Courchesne said the government made two offers to students. The first wouldhave lowered a planned tuition hike to$219 a yearfor seven years from $254 a year; the second would have limited the hike to$100 in the first year,but kept it at $254 annually thereafter.

Both proposals would seetuition rise tonearly $4,100 by 2020, an increase of 70 per cent overall.

"They refused all hikesin tuition,so it wasnt possible to arrive at a solution that would have respected taxpayers, since this notion of a tuition freeze was non-negotiable for them," Courchesne said.

Governmentafraid to be seen to retreat: students

Student leaders said, however, that they had made four counter-offers to the government,none of which it seriously considered, and all of which respected its requirement that any proposal be cost-neutral for the provincial treasury.

The latest of those proposals would have avoidedtuition hikes for two years by instead reducing the income-taxdeductionfor post-secondary tuition. It would have alsocurtailed the Quebec Education Savings Initiative, a tax credit implemented by the Liberals in 2007 that gives money to people who open savingsaccounts for their or their children's education.

Charest fiercely denounced that idea in an interviewThursday evening, saying the tax credit was designed to helpmiddle-class families save for their kids' education.

"Were not going to butcher that. It was done for middle-class families," the premier said. "We speak for the middle class andrepresent them."

But Martine Desjardins, president of the Fdration tudiante universitaire du Qubec, the biggest of the student groups at the table, said the tax credit actually mostly benefits well-to-do families.

"Once you realize who benefits from this program, you have to ask, isnt it better to dosomethingthat helps everyone?" Desjardins told CBC's French-language service. "Itsthe wealthythat can afford to put money aside. Lower- and middle-class students are mostlyignored by this program."

The real reason Courchesne wouldn't entertain the students'latest proposal wasto protect the government's image, saidGabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesman for student group CLASSE, thesecond-biggest student organization involved in the talks.

"Such a gesture would be interpreted as a retreat, and shecited the frontpages of the newspapers,"Nadeau-Dubois said. "What wewere toldinside was that a tuition hike was a goal. Madame Courchesne said her goal was to raise tuition, because if she didnt, then the government would lose face."

Doors open

Bothpartiessaid they're still amenable to more talks.

"My door remains open if students want to return, if they have offers," Charest said.

Desjardinsechoed thatstudents are willing to meet, too. "Were still here. Were always ready to negotiate. We have plenty of proposals. So well wait," she said.

But both parties were also bracing for their disagreements to be taken up once more in the kind ofhuge public demonstrations that have gripped Montreal, sometimes resulting in mass arrests. As CLASSE's Nadeau-Dubois put it Thursday night incalling for renewed protests, "When the government cuts off discussion, the only place left for people to be heard is the street."

CLASSE isorganizing a major "family-friendly"demonstration Saturday afternoon in Montreal's Jeanne Mance Park. Previous rallies in Montreal saw 200,000 people take to the streetson March 22, and a further110,000 on May 22.

Courchesne and Charest both said CLASSE has also specifically threatened to"disrupt"next week's Montreal Grand Prixautorace, butNadeau-Dubois said those statements were made in jest.The Montreal Formula One has already been the target of the international internet activist group Anonymous, which on Wednesdayleaked personal informationon 130 people who had bought tickets to the racewith a threat to release more and to make the event "embarrassing."

The public protestsstemming from the3-month-old Quebecstudent strike and Bill 78, the province's emergency legislation totamp down the crisis, have grabbed headlines around the world and spurred solidarity rallies across Canada. On Wednesday, people marched inRegina,Winnipeg,Hamiltonand Toronto.

High-profile figures like documentary filmmaker Michael Moore and Quebec indie bandArcade Fire have also lent their support to the cause.