Quebec judge rejects Concordia's request for temporary suspension of incoming tuition hike

Concordia University's request for a temporary suspension of the tuition increases mandated by the Quebec government has been rejected by a Superior Court judge. 

Quebec Superior Court Justice Éric Dufour ruled on July 12 that although the university raised "serious questions to be debated on their merit," the inconvenience posed to the university does not outweigh the harm to the public interest that a suspension would entail.

In January, the Quebec Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry increased the tuition fees that out-of-province and international students attending an English-language university will have to pay as of fall 2024.

The move is an effort to "correct the financial imbalance between the anglophone and francophone university network and ensure a better retention and integration rate of Canadian and international students to Quebec society," Déry wrote in a letter in December.

The attorney general of Quebec argued that postponing the particular articles Concordia takes issue with in Déry's new budget rules would effectively postpone the ministry's entire financial plan for all English- and French-language universities.

The Ministry of Higher Education, for its part, argued that such a postponement would also decrease the government's financial flexibility in the short term and would "delay efforts for the promotion of the French language," according to the court document.

Given that Concordia and McGill University are suing the government over its tuition hike, suspending the measure before those hearings would only create prejudice, wrote Dufour in his decision.

A spokesperson for Concordia, Vannina Maestracci, says Dufour's decision is only "one step in the process" since a larger hearing on the merits of their case is still to come.

"We look forward to our arguments being heard," she said in a statement to CBC News.

McGill is listed as the plaintiff that had originally asked for the stay, while Concordia and an individual named Lucas Meldrum were listed as interveners in the case. However, Dufour explains in his ruling, McGill has since asked to postpone its request.