How Quebec's war on Anglos is breaking the province —again

My 12th-grade son is interested in pursuing a fine arts degree at Concordia University in Montreal this fall. So we freaked out a bit in mid-October when François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec government announced that tuition for out-of-province students would almost double, from about $9,000 per year to about $17,000 per year. The change, which was part of an effort to reduce the number of English speakers in Montreal, would come into effect in the fall of 2024, just in time for my son to start university.

The hike faced serious pushback by university administrators and, in December, Quebec dropped tuition down to $12,000 per year. But for many families, the damage had been done. Concordia is reporting a 27 per cent drop in out-of-province applications. McGill, which experienced the same turmoil, says that applications from students outside Quebec are down 22 per cent compared to last year.

What is behind Legault’s recent spasm of anti-Anglo sentiment? The writer Mark Mann has some ideas. Mark is a bilingual journalist who fell in love with Montreal when he was a Concordia student in the early 2000s. He and his wife now live in the Villeray area of Montreal, where their son attends a francophone daycare.

For his April issue cover story, “Quebec’s New French Revolution,” he researched the history of Quebec’s language wars and dug into the census data used to justify the new laws. He also reflected on how Montreal’s bilingualism helped him create the life he loves, and what’s at stake if it disappears. Amid a heated debate, Mark’s voice is refreshing and illuminating. I hope you learn as much from his story as I did.

—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief

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