For violating Bill 101: LaSalle College penalized $30 million by Quebec

Quebec is taking a hard line to enforce the new Bill 101 in CEGEPs. LaSalle College has been fined $30 million for exceeding the ministry's quotas for English-speaking students, an unprecedented measure.

For its director general, Claude Marchand, Quebec's decision could force the institution to close its doors. "It's an existential question for LaSalle College. We're talking about a third of its revenue," he said in an interview.

Since the adoption of Bill 96, CEGEPs and colleges have been subject to a maximum number of students in English-language programs.

For the first two years of the regulation's application, LaSalle College easily exceeded the quotas imposed by the Ministry of Higher Education, which set the bar at between 700 and 800 English-speaking students.

In 2023, the overflow reached 716 students, while it was 1066 the following year.

As a result, Quebec must recover the overpaid amounts and deduct amounts planned for next year, for a total of approximately $30 million over two years.

This year, the measure will create a hole of more than $21 million in the $29 million envelope usually paid by Quebec.

And, since international students pay 100% of their tuition fees, the cut will affect Quebec students at the college, including the French-speaking section, argues Claude Marchand.

Deadlines for compliance

The CEO assures that his institution has always intended to comply. This will be achieved this year, he promises.

But the law's implementation deadline was too short for the reality of the school, he says. "It's as if you were driving at 110 km/h on the highway and immediately there was a 60 km/h sign. You were doomed from day 1," Marchand says.

The quota was communicated to LaSalle College in February 2023. However, since contracts with international students are signed a year in advance, the institution was unable to adapt immediately.

"This contract, in accordance with the Private Education Act, cannot be cancelled unilaterally," said Jean-Philippe Bastien, the establishment's deputy director general.

And, since the government takes a "snapshot" of the number of registered people in the fall, the timeframe was too short to revise registrations downwards, its leaders argue.

Companies, for their part, had until last spring to review their outdoor signage in accordance with the new law, notes Mr. Marchand.

Unique model

The office of the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, was tight-lipped on Thursday, as the College has taken steps in Superior Court to have the ministry's decision overturned.

"Despite close support and several warnings, it is important to clarify that LaSalle is the only subsidized private college to continue to defy the Charter of the French Language and to fail to comply with the law," the press officer stated in a written statement.

Claude Marchand acknowledges that his college is the only one to have been fined in this way.

But its situation is unique, says its CEO, since it is, according to him, the only private establishment that accepts international students for a college study certificate, i.e. short courses of 4 to 24 months.

What the law says

The number of students in English-language colleges must not exceed 17.5% of the total enrollment in the French and English networks... or the number of students admitted the previous year. In other words, the proportion can never increase, only decrease.