Latest news with #ClaudeMarchand
Montreal Gazette
6 hours ago
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
Opinion: LaSalle College shares the blame for its troubles
Thirty million dollars. That's the staggering 'penalty' LaSalle College is facing for exceeding its English-language students limit for two years in a row. A situation that could, according to the college's director general Claude Marchand, threaten the very survival of the 65-year-old institution. Since last week, LaSalle College has been in full crisis-management mode. But managing a crisis doesn't give you a licence to say anything or spread misinformation. So let's set the record straight. First, the so-called 'fine' isn't actually $30 million, contrary to what the college has been telling the media. A portion of that amount represents government subsidies LaSalle should never have received in the first place. Take the 2024-2025 academic year as an example: of the $21 million the Higher Education Ministry is asking LaSalle to repay, $5.6 million corresponds to public funds issued for 1,066 English-language students who, under Quebec law, should not have been admitted. The remainder is a penalty imposed for exceeding the government-imposed quota. Now, some might argue that a fine nearly three times the amount of the subsidies received is excessive — and it is, indeed. But others could say that it sends a strong message to all private colleges in Quebec: There are serious consequences for defying the rules. Because LaSalle College is, in fact, the only private institution of its kind in Quebec to be in this situation for two consecutive years. Some other colleges may have slightly failed to meet the ministry's criteria — but not by a margin anywhere close to LaSalle's. Over 1,000 extra students in a single year — when the cap was actually 716 — does not seem like an honest oversight; it looks like a direct challenge to Quebec's democratically enacted laws. If others managed to stay within the government's new quotas, why couldn't LaSalle? Marchand claims that admission contracts are signed with new students over a year in advance. But the new rules were voted in 2022 — giving the college nearly two years to adapt before the 2024-'25 school year in which it enrolled more than 1,000 extra students. So let's be honest: That argument doesn't really hold water. That said, it's also unclear why the ministry disbursed $5.6 million in subsidies despite the excess admissions. Someone within the ministry should have flagged the problem well before the cheque was sent for students the institution was never allowed to enrol in the first place. So, the responsibility appears to be shared here. On one side, LaSalle shouldn't have accepted these students, nor requested subsidies — approximately $5,000 per student — while knowingly breaching its legal limits. Meanwhile, the ministry should never have allocated those public funds, given the clear over-enrolment. With that in mind, a reasonable solution might be to significantly reduce or even cancel the $15-million penalty and simply demand repayment of the $5.6 million in improperly awarded subsidies for 2024-'25, for instance. In the end, this is a matter of fiscal responsibility. Every dollar of hard-earned taxpayer money received in violation of the law must be returned. This should be non-negotiable. Marchand stated on X that the college is actually 'subsidizing the Quebec government' by generating $10 million more in public revenue than it receives in annual subsidies. Most people will agree that LaSalle College is an important institution that deserves to survive. But should it receive special treatment just because of that? Absolutely not. Making a positive contribution to Quebec's economy and society does not exempt you from following the law. Because if that were the case, any business could ignore the rules for the same reasons. Whether we like it or not, laws are made to be enforced. And everyone is equally expected to follow them. If LaSalle College wants to avoid fines in the future, it only needs to do what its competitors already do: abide by the law. It's as simple as that. Raphaël Melançon is a public affairs consultant and political analyst. He previously worked as a journalist and political adviser at all three levels of government.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
LaSalle College fined $30M for over-enrolling students in English-language programs
Montreal's LaSalle College says it's facing an existential threat after it was handed down back-to-back fines totalling almost $30 million from the Quebec government for enrolling too many students in its English-language programs. The private college received a letter from the Ministry of Higher Education at the end of June saying it owed $21,113,864 for enrolling 1,066 students over its quota for the 2024-25 academic year. That amount is added to the $8.7-million fine it was handed down last year for the same infraction. "The first question that came to my mind is which organization or family business can afford to pay such a fine," said the college's president and CEO, Claude Marchand. Leading up to the introduction of the quotas in 2023, he said he had pleaded with the government to no avail to give colleges a grace period, as it had done for businesses adjusting to Law 14, also known as Bill 96, Quebec's law to protect the French language. LaSalle College received its first quota in late February 2023, which was to be enforced in the fall of that same year. But by that point, the college's enrolment process for international students was well underway. "So, we were already doomed when we got that number," said Marchand. That year, it surpassed the quota by 716 students. LaSalle College ran into the same issue the following year. Meeting the quota would have meant breaking the college's contracts with some students who had enrolled before the quotas were ever introduced and cutting short their academic careers at the school, which LaSalle wasn't willing to do, said Marchand. "Now we're fully compliant in fall 2025, but it took us those two years to be fully compliant," said Marchand. "We're not challenging the law per se. We are challenging the penalty that is the outcome of the law." Colleges faced reduced fines at first to help them adjust, says government The fine per student enrolled over the quota increased from last year. A spokesperson for Pascale Déry, Quebec's minister of higher education, says the reduced fine rate in the first year was the transitory measure. "Despite close support and several warnings, it is important to point out that LaSalle is the only subsidized private college to continue to defy the Charter of the French Language and to not respect the law," said the minister's office in a statement. In a post to X, Jean-François Roberge, the minister responsible for the French language, said Quebec's move to cap enrolment into programs taught in English was "brave, but necessary." For his part, Marchand says that negotiating and getting any indication of flexibility from Déry has been complicated. LaSalle was the only college, private or otherwise, to be fined by the government for contravening the quota in 2024 as can be seen in Quebec's budgetary and financial regimes for that year. Other colleges were able to negotiate their quotas, like the public Cégep Marie-Victorin, which was initially allotted 232 spots in its Attestation of College Studies (AEC in French) programs for the fall 2023. That number rose to 332, according to a government document from October that year, released through an access to information request. LaSalle is contesting both fines in a civil suit at Quebec's Superior Court, claiming, among other things, that the government's quotas were unreasonable to begin with. That's partially because, as the suit says, the quotas are inferior to the number of international students enrolling into an English program the college is allowed to accept — a number the government itself sets. The government says its fines are meant to recover the amount of overpaid subsidies. But the government doesn't subsidize international students at LaSalle, the suit goes on to explain, and the particular quota the school didn't meet is at the AEC level where there are a lot of international students. Marchand calls the fines a "clawback" saying the government is also fining it twice for the same student over the last two years. "We don't have more students in those [English-taught] programs than in 2019 which is the ultimate spirit of the law. We're fully compliant for next semester and we have a public mission to serve all [our] 5,000 students and we want to keep going."
CBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CBC
LaSalle College fined $30M for over-enrolling students in English-language programs
Social Sharing Montreal's LaSalle College says it's facing an existential threat after it was handed down back-to-back fines totalling almost $30 million from the Quebec government for enrolling too many students in its English-language programs. The private college received a letter from the Ministry of Higher Education at the end of June saying it owed $21,113,864 for enrolling 1,066 students over its quota for the 2024-25 academic year. That amount is summed to the $8.7 million fine it was handed down last year for the same infraction. "The first question that came to my mind is which organization or family business can afford to pay such a fine," said the college's president and CEO, Claude Marchand. Leading up to the introduction of the quotas in 2023, he said he had pleaded with the government to no avail to give colleges a grace period, as it had done for businesses adjusting to Law 14, also known as Bill 96, Quebec's law to protect the French language. LaSalle College received its first quota in late February 2023 which was to be enforced in the fall of that same year. But by that point, the college's enrolment process for international students was well underway. "So, we were already doomed when we got that number," said Marchand. That year, it surpassed the quota by 716 students. LaSalle College ran into the same issue the following year. Meeting the quota would have meant breaking the college's contracts with some students who had enrolled before the quotas were ever introduced and cutting short their academic careers at the school, which LaSalle wasn't willing to do, said Marchand. "Now we're fully compliant in fall 2025, but it took us those two years to be fully compliant," said Marchand. "We're not challenging the law per se. We are challenging the penalty that is the outcome of the law." Colleges faced reduced fines at first to help them adjust, says government The fine per student enrolled over the quota increased from last year. A spokesperson for Pascale Déry, Quebec's minister of higher education, says the reduced fine rate in the first year was the transitory measure. "Despite close support and several warnings, it is important to point out that LaSalle is the only subsidized private college to continue to defy the Charter of the French Language and to not respect the law," said the minister's office in a statement. In a post to X, Jean-François Roberge, the minister responsible for the French language, said Quebec's move to cap enrolment into programs taught in English was "brave, but necessary." For his part, Marchand says that negotiating and getting any indication of flexibility from Déry has been complicated. LaSalle was the only college, private or otherwise, to be fined by the government for contravening the quota in 2024 as can be seen in Quebec's budgetary and financial regimes for that year. Other colleges were able to negotiate their quotas like the public Cégep Marie-Victorin which was initially allotted 232 spots in its Attestation of College Studies (AEC in French) programs for the fall 2023. That number rose to 332, according to a government document from October that year, released through an access to information request. LaSalle is contesting both fines in a civil suit at Quebec's Superior Court, claiming, among other things, that the government's quotas were unreasonable to begin with. That's partially because, as the suit says, the quotas are inferior to the number of international students enrolling into an English program the college is allowed to accept — a number the government itself sets. The government says its fines are meant to recover the amount of overpaid subsidies. But the government doesn't subsidize international students at LaSalle, the suit goes on to explain, and the particular quota the school didn't meet is at the AEC level where there are a lot of international students. Marchand calls the fines a "clawback" saying the government is also fining it twice for the same student over the last two years. "We don't have more students in those [English-taught] programs than in 2019 which is the ultimate spirit of the law. We're fully compliant for next semester and we have a public mission to serve all [our] 5,000 students and we want to keep going."
