As the only Cégep Public of the third largest city in Quebec is overflowing, the mayor of Laval, Stéphane Boyer, is concerned about the future of the private campus of the LaSalle college on its territory. The establishment is threatened by the penalties of almost 30 million imposed on it by the Quebec government.
Last Thursday, the Lasalle college lifted the veil on penalties of $ 29.9 million which he disputes in front of the Superior Court for having welcomed, in two years, a total of 1782 excess English -speaking students in his programs leading to certificates of college studies. The establishment has thus exceeded twice an inscription ceiling imposed by Quebec by virtue of the reform of the French language charter, adopted in 2022.
Result: the survival of this subsidized private establishment, which received financial support from Quebec from 21.7 million last year, is threatened. It is therefore both its Montreal campus and that of Laval that could disappear, said Tuesday at Duty The Director General of the Lasalle College, Claude Marchand.
“It is the very sustainability of the LaSalle college in Montreal, and all the projects that necessarily result from it, which is brought into play, which is threatened by the government decision,” he said.
However, last fall, the Montmorency college had to refuse the registration of more than 1000 eligible candidates, the only Cégep Public de Laval faced a growing request which it struggles to respond. The Lasalle college, which trains 250 students per year in its Laval campus, proposes in this context to increase this number to 1000 as part of the Carré Laval project, dear to the mayor Boyer.
“The LaSalle college is determined to be part of the solution for the imbalance of services in Laval”, if its financial situation allows it, “continues Mr. Marchand.
The development of this mixed district primarily provides for the development, in the heart of the city of Laval, of a campus that would host research laboratories and would form students registered in four post -secondary establishments, the Montmorency and Lasalle colleges, the University of Quebec in Montreal and the National Institute of Scientific Research.
A threatened project
Until now, the City of Laval and the four post -secondary establishments taking part in this project have invested a total of $ 350,000 in the study of this project. The realization of this campus could however be compromised if the LaSalle college were to withdraw its participation for financial reasons, fears Stéphane Boyer.
“It is certain that it would destabilize the project,” warns the elected official.
Stéphane Boyer also sees that the closure of the Lasalle college campus in Laval would have “extremely negative” effects, increasing pressure on an already saturated college network. “Hence the relevance, in my opinion, to take a situation which is deplorable and to try to do something good with it,” he adds.
The mayor thus proposes that Quebec uses the sum of 29.9 million which he intends to harvest with the Lasalle college in order to finance the achievement of this campus, which has not to date the day of any financial commitment on the part of the State.
“At least, money would be used for something more constructive, which would promote French and who would serve students who need it,” said the elected official. “There is an opportunity to seize. »»
“Counterproductive” penalties
The association of private colleges in Quebec, for its part turned to the LinkedIn social network on Monday, to press Quebec to find “a reasonable, fair and realistic solution” in order to avoid the “irreversible consequences” that a possible closure of the Lasalle college would have because of the penalties that Quebec wants to inflict on it.
The association then recalled that during the consultations surrounding Bill 96 (law on the official and common language of Quebec, the French), it had recommended “a progressive establishment of the new measures” included in this document in order to avoid penalizing some of its members.
“This approach aimed to allow establishments to plan an ordered transition, in accordance with the laws and regulations in force, while preserving accessibility to higher education in French,” adds the declaration. The Director General of the Lasalle College also continues to claim from Quebec that he granted him a “transition period for the first two years” of the implementation of the reform of the French language charter.
He also ensures that his establishment has succeeded in respecting the limits of registration imposed on him Quebec in anticipation of the next school year.
Joint by The dutythe cabinet of Minister Déry refused to comment on this file, the penalties imposed on the LaSalle college subject to judicial appeal. He recalls, however, that the subsidized private establishment is the only one in its category “to continue to challenge the Charter of the French language and not to respect the law”.
