By Nadine Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: June 20, 2012
With the tourism season in Montreal kicking off for the summer, some fear that student protests will pose a threat to the industry. In early June, the Grand Prix—an auto race that generates an average of $100 million in revenue for the city—cancelled their open house, stating that after “the various disruption threats made public recently, the free admission and the naturally openness [sic] character of the ‘Open Doors’ day, revealed some risks that we could not neglect.” Cancelling their “Open Doors” day, they say, was the only action they could take. However, Quebec student leaders are now saying that the claims that they pose any sort of risk to Montreal’s tourism industry have been wildly overblown in order to discredit their movement.
The heads of three of the province’s student associations made it clear that their intentions regarding the tourism industry are entirely peaceful.
“We broke the myth that the student movement is violent, that it wants to disrupt,” said Martine Deslardins, president of the Federation Etudiante Universitaire du Quebec (FEUQ). “It was towards the end of negotiations [with the government] that they tried to make people believe we wanted to disrupt the festivals this summer.”
Talks had broken off with the provincial Liberal government and student associations a week earlier.
Premier Jean Charest claims that a representative from CLASSE, the second largest and allegedly most hardline of student groups, had threatened to disrupt the Grand Prix. However, CLASSE spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said in a statement that his group merely intended to be “distributing flyers.”
Despite efforts by student associations, Montreal’s tourism industry is feeling the effects of student demonstrations. Nightly rallies pass through the downtown core of Montreal, bringing police presence with them. The protesters have been marching for over 45 nights, even through mass arrests, such as on the night of May 23, when police took 518 people into custody. According to figures released by tourism Montreal, hotel bookings were down by 10.7 per cent in the month of May. This month is not expected to do any better, with an estimated 10 to 12 per cent drop. Tourism is a significant industry in Montreal, with over 40,000 jobs generated and more than 15 million visitors yearly.
Protests in Quebec began in February, after the Liberals announced their plan to raise tuition by 75 per cent over the next five to seven years. About 180,000 university and college students voted to go on strike. Since then, the movement has spread to a larger social uprising against the government, escalating in particular when Bill 78 was introduced. This emergency legislation was passed on May 18, 2012. It restricts the freedom of assembly, protest, or picketing near university grounds and anywhere in Quebec without prior police approval. It also places restrictions upon education employees to strike. The legislation was brought in by the National Assembly of Quebec, and has been a subject of great contention by many citizens of Quebec.
