Quebec says it will impose out-of-province tuition hike despite court ruling

Despite a court ruling striking down its tuition hikes for out-of-province Canadian students, the Quebec government will not appeal the decision.

Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry said the court found fault with the rationale for the increases — not the increases themselves — and says the government intends to stay the course.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Déry said the court had not overturned the government's move to increase tuition by 33 per cent for out-of-province Canadian students. 

"We are standing by the decision. We firmly believe it is not the Quebec government's role to ensure financial accessibility to education for non-Quebecers," she said, noting that she wanted to "set the record straight" about the ruling after claiming it was misreported by Montreal news outlets. 

In April, Quebec Superior Court Justice Éric Dufour said the government lacked data to support its claims that out-of-province students weren't integrating into Quebec society. 

"The evidence shows that the ministry has absolutely no data on this subject, or only fragile information to back it up," he wrote in his ruling. 

Dufour gave the government a nine-month timeline to revise the fee structure, but maintained the tuition increase for that time frame.

He also threw out the province's requirement to have 80 per cent of out-of-province undergraduate students at English-language universities reach an intermediate level of proficiency in French by graduation, calling the expectation "unreasonable given the near-certain impossibility of achievement." 

WATCH | What does the ruling mean? 

Quebec court strikes down tuition hike for out-of-province students

2 months ago

Duration 1:43

McGill and Concordia universities have won a partial legal victory against a provincial government measure that increased tuition for out-of-province university students. A judge has also invalidated a new French-language proficiency requirement for those students.

The heads of Quebec's English universities criticized the move, saying the increase in tuition fees made their programs unappealing to students across the country. 

Last month, Concordia reported it anticipates a deficit of nearly $32 million for the 2025–26 academic year, while McGill has already put in place measures to cut $45 million from its 2025-26 budget to eliminate operating deficits over the next three years.

Vannina Maestracci, a spokesperson for Concordia, said in an email on Tuesday that the university was "astonished" by the higher education minister's comments, which suggest the government will return to court with new arguments to justify the tuition increase. 

"We had hoped that the decision by the Superior Court in April could mark a reset of our relationship with the government," Maestracci wrote. "The comments, made one day after the end of the appeal period, make it clear that this is not the case."

No plans to appeal

Simon Savignac, a spokesperson for Déry, said the province will not try to fight the judge's orders.

Over the next few months, the province will try to rework the rules and find another rationale for the hike.  

But he pointed out that the ruling recognizes the government's right to take steps to protect French.

"The ruling not only supports the measure aimed at correcting the financial imbalance between English-language and French-language universities, it also recognizes the government's responsibility to take the necessary steps to protect the French language in Quebec," Savignac said.

Savignac said the government still believes "it is not the responsibility of the Quebec government to guarantee financial accessibility to education for non-Quebecers."

He added that the government "will continue discussions with English-speaking universities over the coming weeks" about out-of-province students' knowledge of French.

Bishop's exempt, but affected

Sébastien Lebel-Grenier, principal and vice-chancellor at Bishop's University, said even though his school was exempted from the tuition hike, it still had an impact. 

"All the negative publicity around these measures has had an impact — I'd say a chilling effect on potential students and it has raised concerns for those prospective students," he told CBC's Breakaway on Wednesday.

"We have seen a decline in the number of students we have from the rest of Canada," he said, noting that decline over two years is 20 per cent. 

As for learning French, Lebel-Grenier said Bishop's has always provided opportunities for students to learn the language.

At present, the school is rolling out a new plan to increase opportunities for students to master French, he said, noting it will be in a way that will allow students to take in Quebec culture and learn more about the province — helping them integrate if they choose to stay in Quebec.

"I really see this court decision as an opportunity for a reset," said Lebel-Grenier. "We don't disagree on the overall objectives and we see ourselves as we should be — a great partner to the government."