Province prematurely terminates Perspective Quebec scholarships, saves $1 billion

Prospective engineering students in Quebec will no longer have access to the Perspective Quebec bursaries, which were introduced during the pandemic to alleviate the labour shortage. (Pexels)

Quebec is bringing the Perspective Québec bursary program to a premature end, even though there is still just over $1 billion left in the envelope that had been forecast when the program was announced in November 2021.

At the time, while Quebec was still in the midst of a pandemic, François Legault’s government decided to offer bursaries of $2,500 per session at university level and $1,500 per session at college level in fields of study that it had identified as priorities due to a labour shortage.

These areas included engineering and information technology, on the side of what were then called “strategic sectors for the economy,” and “essential public services,” more specifically health and social services, education and educational childcare services.

From $9,000 to $20,000

The total amount of the scholarships could reach $9,000 at college level and $15,000 to $20,000 for university training, depending on the length of the program. The scholarships were only awarded once the semester was completed.

The program, with a budget of $1.7 billion at its launch, was to run for four years and end after the autumn term of 2025. On Friday morning, Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry confirmed the information first published the day before by Le Devoir that the grants for the winter 2025 session will be the last.

However, students currently benefiting from the program will continue to receive their bursaries until the end of their studies.

Over $1 billion unused

The premature end of the program is not due to the funds running out, far from it.

To date, only $538 million of the envelope has been used to pay out some 258,000 bursaries (nearly 107,000 at college level and just over 151,000 at university level). This means that there is still more than $1 billion in this envelope, money that will be redirected elsewhere.

The minister cites “uneven effects in certain targeted fields of study and changes in the economic context” to explain this decision.

The news release issued by her office states that the government intends to “focus on other solutions to enhance the value of professions in public services, such as health and education,” and maintains that “improving working conditions and salaries in public networks is a good example of this.”

Sound management of public spending

Students required to complete compulsory internships in health, social services, education and early childhood education, who were eligible for Perspective Québec bursaries, will be reintegrated into the Programme de bourses de soutien à la persévérance et à la réussite des stagiaires.

In a short message included in the news release, Déry states that this premature termination “is not an easy decision,” but at the same time she is adopting the Legault government’s mantra by invoking “concern for sound management of public finances.”

“We would rather focus on other solutions to enhance the value of the professions, as we have done by improving the working conditions and salaries of employees in the health and education networks, in particular,” she added.

A particularly shameful decision

“We really think this is a particularly shameful decision,” Antoine Dervieux, president of the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec, told The Canadian Press.

“It’s really a tragedy in three acts. Act one is that last year Minister Déry promised us remuneration, or at least some form of remuneration for interns. The second is that Minister Déry is going back on her commitments by making choices, as she has said throughout the year, and then leaving students in a precarious situation, and now, in act three, the minister is cutting 125,000 bursaries, $250 million from the public purse, while the student movement is campaigning to point out that student poverty is at an all-time high.”

“My message to the minister today is that she will have to be prepared to hear about this announcement for a long time to come,” warned Dervieux.

Nothing left for interns

On the other end of the phone, Étienne Paré, Dervieux’s university counterpart at the Quebec Student Union, was just as surprised and disappointed by the decision: “It’s hard to understand why the government decided to go back on this program. It has its limits, we’re aware of that. It worked for engineers, but it didn’t work for education and health.”

But he too is bitter about the interns: “If we want to get more people involved in education and health, it’s important to pay for their internships. These are people living in precarious conditions, as they are not paid at the moment when they are on placement, the Perspective grant was a bit of a salve for these people. Now it’s highly problematic to take that money away from them, because at the moment they have nothing left.”

He pointed out that Déry has committed “on several occasions to remunerating internships” and that the National Assembly has come out unanimously in favour of the idea.

Students said “at least there will be the Perspective program. Now there is no Perspective program, so there will simply be no more money for people, our future teachers, our future nurses and our future social workers.”

‘A monumental error’ - QS

On the political front, Québec solidaire (QS) reacted strongly to this decision. In an email sent to The Canadian Press, education spokesperson Sol Zanetti criticized the CAQ government for committing “a monumental error by putting an end to the Perspective bursaries.”

“At the moment,” he continued, “Quebec students are facing the biggest rent increase of their lives and sometimes have to hold down two jobs to pay their bills. Any measure that increases student debt in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis is totally out of touch with reality,” he said, denouncing the “CAQ austerity” that is making the situation worse.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French Feb. 7, 2025.