Bill 101 expansion to vocational schools could drain English school boards of funds, EMSB warns

The expansion of Quebec's French-language law to vocational schools could have a drastic effect on English schools' finances.

The Fréchette government is looking to expand Quebec’s French language charter to include adult and vocational education programs.

During a budget study at the National Assembly, French-language Minister Jean-François Roberge said 27,000 students could migrate to the French network as a result of the change.

As it stands, Bill 101 does not apply to adult education or vocational programs.

The minister said these are students who do not have the right to attend English-language elementary or high school.

Anglophone rights group TALQ isn’t convinced this move would protect the French language.

“The PQ never did this. René Lévesque never talked about this,” Sylvia Martin-Laforge, director general at TALQ, said. “What does this really achieve?”

There are concerns about the impact this change could have on English school boards.

“Funding is tied to enrolment,” Joe Ortona, chairperson of the English Montreal School Board, said. “So, if enrolment goes down, funding goes down, and if funding goes down, we have less ability to be able to provide certain services.”

Ortona said revenue from vocational programs is reinvested in the board’s youth sector.

“With budget cuts, unfortunately come difficult decisions that we have to make,” Ortona said. “What is it that we’re going to be able to keep? And what is it that we’re not going to be able to keep?”

There are also concerns about what this will mean for the economy, if students decide to study elsewhere or drop out.

“The economic importance the students have in the labour market [would lie] on the altar of French and identity. We are sacrificing, probably, some economic benefits,” Martin-Laforge said.

Ortona doesn’t think the French service centres can meet the demand.

“They don’t have the staffing for it. They don’t have the resources for it, and that’s not something that they’re going to be able to get overnight,” he said.

Quebec Solidaire MNA Alexandre Leduc questioned the minister on that issue. Roberge said there will be a transition period, adding that since the CAQ is a nationalist government, it has the duty to do something.

Work to draft the bill is already underway, but the CAQ doesn’t have much time left, because the parliamentary session ends on June 12.