Tuition hikes scrapped at first Parti Quebecois cabinet meeting

QUEBEC – It’s over — the tuition increase that triggered such social strife in Quebec has been cancelled.

The Parti Quebecois government has repealed the fee hike, by decree, in its first cabinet meeting on its first day in office.

Premier Pauline Marois is acting on a promise that she had made during the election campaign.

She announced the decision at a news conference after the meeting.

Marois says tuition will go back to $2,168 — the lowest in Canada. With the planned increases, it would have been $600 higher this year and would have kept growing each year.

Marois says she will not decrease funding for universities, however, and she will make good on a promise to hold a summit on how to fund universities.

Marois says she will also cancel the Charest Liberals’ controversial protest legislation.