Quebec education summit kicks off with tuition rates front and centre

MONTREAL – Quebec’s long-awaited education summit is set to kick off today, a year after a dispute over proposed tuition hikes led to a months-long protest movement.

The Parti Quebecois government, which cancelled the tuition increases when it took power in September, wants to tie increases to inflation.

But the province’s largest student federation is pushing for an absolute freeze on tuition levels.

Other student groups have decided to boycott the two-day summit because they feel it’s nothing more than a government PR stunt.

They are planning a protest outside the meetings on Tuesday.

Universities, meanwhile, are hoping for more funding after budgets were slashed in December.