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CBC
11 hours ago
- CBC
Students caught in limbo as LaSalle College scrambles to comply with Quebec quotas
Less than a month before the start of classes, dozens of students attending LaSalle College in Montreal were abruptly shifted from full-time to part-time status as the school scrambles to comply with Quebec's language reform. Alex Abraham, 33, who was about to enter the second and final year of his network management program, says the last-minute change is a devastating blow to his plans of building a career in Quebec. "I was shocked," he said of his reaction to last week's email notifying him of the change. "We all came here with lots of expectations and dreams." Part-time students are not eligible for Canada's post-graduation work permit and cannot work off-campus while they're studying unless they meet certain conditions. The new status would mean Abraham would effectively have to leave the factory job that he was counting on to stay afloat. "How can I meet my expenses?" he said. "So suddenly if they change my enrolment into part time, that's obviously going to affect me very badly so, I'm concerned." In a statement, the private college says the measure affects about 90 students and concerns only the fall semester. Spokesperson Caroline Gervais writes the measures "are specifically to ensure that we remain fully compliant for Fall 2025 with the requirements of the Charte de la langue française and the government-imposed quotas on English-language AEC programs," which are a type of vocational post-secondary diploma. In the email sent to Abraham last week and reviewed by CBC, the college said it had the capacity and resources to accommodate him as a full-time student, but couldn't due to the government cap. "We understand that such changes can be stressful and disruptive — especially for those whose graduation timelines, financial aid, or immigration status may be affected," a statement sent by Gervais over the weekend reads. During the 2024-25 academic year, the number of students enrolled in the college's English-language programs exceeded the quota by 1,066, resulting in a $21,113,864 fine by the Quebec government. That amount was in addition to the $8.7 million fine it had already accrued the year earlier for the same infraction, bringing its total debt to the government to nearly $30 million. The college is challenging the fines in a civil suit in Quebec's Superior Court. According to that lawsuit, 70 per cent of students enrolled in English-language AEC programs are international students, like Abraham. He learned about the college through an agency while living in India. "The standard of living is good here in Canada compared to India," he said. "We are all putting the effort to learn the [French] language and also we are trying to build a career here. We like the Quebec culture, that's why we are here." 'I am not the reason for the fine' Abraham says he was aware of the college's sizable fine, but thought the school would be able to find a solution. That it would unilaterally change his course load was not something he saw coming. Gervais explains that factors beyond the school's control, such as student failures and altered academic pathways, affect the availability of certain classes in September. She says those factors played a role in the students' status changes. "This does not mean that LaSalle College exceeded its overall AEC quota. Instead, it reflects the constraints of the respective capacity of AEC and DEC programs within those quotas, combined with scheduling realities," says Gervais. A spokesperson for the office of Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry said it wouldn't comment so as to not harm the judicial process. LaSalle College says that many of the students affected had either failed multiple classes or deviated from their original pathway in some way, but neither of those two scenarios apply to Abraham. The college let him know over email that in his case, the change is not due to his academic performance. That he ended up among the group of affected students feels random, he says. The college set up a meeting for the students with Immigration Canada and a college representative Tuesday afternoon and Abraham says he hopes it will provide him with some answers. "I have the right to know the reason," he said, adding that he'll be dissatisfied if it's merely the college's way of avoiding more fines. "I am not the reason for the fine. They did the wrong thing, they violated the rule," he said.
Winnipeg Free Press
21 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
What to know about Bolivia's election that elevated a centrist shaking up the political landscape
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — One candidate is Rodrigo Paz, a conservative centrist senator and son of a neoliberal ex-president who is pitching himself as a moderate reformer. The other is former right-wing president Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga galvanizing voters largely through promises of harsh austerity and a scorched-earth approach to transforming Bolivia's state-directed economic model after 20 years of leftist dominance. At stake in the outcome of Bolivia's consequential presidential election is the fate of one of South America's most resource-rich nations, where inflation has soared to heights unseen in decades and polls show growing distrust in major institutions. 'There has been a paradigm shift,' said Bolivian sociologist Renzo Abruzzese. 'What is truly historic is that the old cycle is over. It has carried away the classical leftist thought that dominated much of the 20th century.' The shadow of unrest among the fervent supporters of charismatic ex-President Evo Morales, the founder of Bolivia's long-dominant Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, hangs over the next weeks of campaigning until the men face off in an unprecedented runoff on Oct. 19. Front-runner Rodrigo Paz surprises Screenshots of the Wikipedia entry for Paz's past political allegiances elicited waggish mockery on Bolivian social media Monday about the fluid ideology of this former mayor and governor. Paz began his political career in the Revolutionary Left Movement of his father, former President Jaime Paz Zamora. His movement emerged as a radical Marxist-inspired party and suffered brutal repression under Bolivia's 1964-1982 military dictatorship. Paz was born in exile in Spain. His father pivoted right as a pact with former dictator Hugo Bánzer vaulted him to the presidency in 1989. The younger Paz rose through the political rinks over the past two decades in opposition to Morales' platform of generous subsidies and hefty public investment. He joined Quiroga's right-wing party before drifting toward Bolivia's technocratic center. Analysts say that his enigmatic pragmatism — a focus on specific policies rather than ideological crusades — served Paz in Sunday's election, as it did his father before him. 'Voters don't want hard right or hard left. They want things to function,' said Veronica Rocha, a Bolivian political analyst. 'Ambivalence is a political asset right now.' Even his supporters aren't sure how to describe him politically. 'I don't care about politics, I'm sick of it, I just support the candidate who I think will steal the least,' Emma Gesea Mamani, 57, said from her kiosk, selling snacks to hungry truckers wasting their days in lines for diesel as a result of Bolivia's crippling fuel shortages. Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga promises spending cuts A former vice president, Quiroga briefly held the presidency after then-President and ex-dictator Bánzer retired for health reasons in 2001. Fluent in English and educated at Texas A&M University, Quiroga has fashioned himself into a pro-business modernizer vowing to save Bolivia from what he calls '20 lost years' under the MAS party. He pledges drastic spending cuts, a bailout from the International Monetary Fund and fire sales of Bolivia's inefficient state-run firms. After years of Bolivia's foreign policy alignment with China and Russia, Quiroga vows to restore relations with the United States and claims to be close with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 'For years we lived in a time of darkness and lack of opportunities like Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua,' said 60-year-old engineer Jimmy Copa Vargas. 'With Tuto's government, we'll open ourselves to the world.' Quiroga has run for president three times before, losing twice to Morales. Now 65, he hopes the fourth time's the charm. To attract young voters, Quiroga threw flashy concerts and named a wealthy young entrepreneur as his vice president. He appears in campaign posters wearing a stern expression, tailored suit and Apple Watch and often peppers his speeches with wonky macroeconomic data, fueling the perception among some Bolivians that he's out of touch with the rural poor in this majority-Indigenous nation. 'I can't trust that he's not going to be the first one out on a lifeboat when Bolivia starts sinking,' said Luis Quispe, a 38-year-old taxi driver. Paz's unusual campaign — and running mate Paz and his popular running mate, former police captain Edman Lara, crisscrossed Bolivian cities holding modest rallies filled with cheap beer and grilled meat, often recording videos to post on TikTok. Despite undergoing emergency knee surgery earlier in the year, Paz hit dozens of campaign stops in the traditional bastions of Morales' party, engaging with disillusioned voters at once desperate for change but wary of a dramatic lurch to the right after 20 years of the MAS economic model. He has rejected an IMF bailout and proposed 'capitalism for all,' touting accessible loans to boost young entrepreneurs and tax breaks to stimulate the formal economy. Many see his running mate, ex-police captain Lara, known here as El Capitán, as the driving force behind his win. After 15 years in the police force, Lara in 2023 gained national prominence by posting tales of police corruption to his followers on TikTok and Instagram. His videos went viral, becoming must-see dispatches for disgruntled Bolivians and social media-savvy youth who tuned in regularly to watch him talk to the camera. He faced disciplinary measures over the exposés and was fired from the force, solidifying his status as something of a folk hero. After his dismissal, he struggled to scrape by selling secondhand clothing. His wife drove for a ride-hailing app. That has resonated with many workers in Bolivia's vast informal economy who have watched politicians enrich themselves while their own finances collapse and the country's economy spirals. The election may not mark the end of politics for Evo Morales Sunday's presidential election marked the first since 2002 without Morales or a stand-in on the ballot. Still, the outcome confirmed the maverick ex-union leader's enduring influence after serving three straight terms marked by relative prosperity and political stability until his 2019 disputed reelection and subsequent ouster. Disqualified from the race by a court ruling on term limits, Morales called on his followers to spoil their ballots against what he deemed an illegitimate election. He campaigned hard for null votes, at times condemning his leftist rivals — Eduardo Del Castillo, nominated by the unpopular President Luis Arce, and Senate leader Andrónico Rodríguez, a former protégé and coca farming union activist — more than the right-wing opposition. While the election results swept aside those splintered MAS party factions, the null-and-void vote captured third place in Sunday's elections. Spoiled ballots appealed to nostalgic Morales supporters who fault Arce for Bolivia's economic collapse and to voters disillusioned by politicians across the spectrum who they say are more focused more on their own power games than on the people they are supposed to serve. 'Those who say Evo Morales is finished are mistaken,' Abruzzese said. 'Morales and MAS won't disappear.' ___ Associated Press writer Carlos Valdez in La Paz, Bolivia, contributed to this report.
Japan Forward
2 days ago
- Japan Forward
Alaska Summit Leaves No Doubt Trump Was Played by Putin
このページを 日本語 で読む United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska on August 15, but failed to lay out a path to a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. At a joint press conference following the meeting, Putin maintained his hardline stance. A ceasefire, he said, requires that "We didn't get there." It will soon be three and a half years since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. Reaching a ceasefire agreement in a single meeting was too much to be expected, especially without participation by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Even so, it is unfortunate that prospects for a stop to the fighting appear as distant as ever. What is concerning is that Trump's appeasement stance in regards to Putin has become conspicuous. In Ukraine, Russian forces continue indiscriminate attacks on civilians. However, at the joint news conference, Trump voiced no criticism of the Russian invasion. To the contrary, both leaders repeatedly described the meeting as "useful" and "productive." Despite that, they did not mention any specific points of agreement. Moreover, they sought to emphasize their close personal ties, which leaves those looking on with a strong sense of discomfort. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to US President Donald Trump upon arriving at Fort Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15. (©Reuters via Kyodo) It is also outrageous that the two men discussed joint development of the Arctic and bilateral business cooperation. In an interview with Fox News that same day after the meeting, Trump revealed that he and Putin had discussed a "territorial swap" between Russia and Ukraine. "It's up to President Zelenskyy to get it done," he said, urging him to "make a deal." Establishing a ceasefire line is one thing. But Ukraine should not be asked to make concessions on territorial issues, which are fundamental to national sovereignty. Trump also stated that he would not immediately consider raising punitive tariffs (secondary tariffs) on countries such as China and India that continue to purchase Russian crude oil. However, he added that he might have to think about that in two or three weeks. Trump has clearly backed down. After all, he previously threatened to impose secondary tariffs if Russia did not agree to a ceasefire agreement. Putin must be laughing out loud now that he has succeeded in buying time to continue his invasion. Speaking in English, Putin also proposed that the two leaders next meet in Moscow. That would rule out participation by President Zelenskyy. President Trump should not accept such a duplicitous invitation. Instead of trying to charm him, Trump should be increasing pressure on the invader. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (©Kyodo) Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbu このページを 日本語 で読む
