Conservative leader Éric Duhaime, who has risen in the polls among non-Francophones, now maintains his vague stance on Dawson College expansion.
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However, in a message to members during the Quebec Conservative Party leadership race in February 2021, Mr. Duhaime was unequivocal: “Against Cégep Dawson’s expansion project,” he wrote under his orientations on education.
But since then, the PCQ has registered 20% of voting intentions among non-French speakers. Éric Duhaime also recruited Bonnie Feigenbaum in D’Arcy-McGee, an ex-Liberal for whom the Legault administration wrongly canceled the $200 million expansion of Montreal’s English-language college.
The Conservative leader hints that the situation was different at the time of the lead race. “[C’est] because we said we would give more money per capita. I’m against giving more,” he said on Sunday.
Equal funding
The Conservative leader instead wants “equal funding” per student for every institution.
He concedes that would make Dawson College, with its approximately 11,000 students, one of the wealthiest. “Of course, if there are more students,” agrees Mr. Duhaime.
Does that mean he now supports the expansion of the Anglophone college? “I never said that! start the conservative leader. I say I want it to be fair funding and not politically debated. We don’t have to divide the population on a funding project.
So is he in favor of expanding Dawson College? “You want to put words in my mouth, I won’t say it. I’m not going to change, I’m going to tell you the same thing a hundred times: what I want is equal funding per pipe bowl, regardless of the student’s language,” he said.