Talks to end Quebec tuition hike standoff collapse

Montreal police and protesters face off on May 23, 2012 during
 a demonstration against student tuition hikes. Nearly 700 people were arrested overnight in rowdy 

TALKS between students and the Quebec government aimed at ending months of protests over a proposed tuition hike have collapsed, with nightly street demonstrations showing no sign of abating.

TALKS between students and the Quebec government aimed at ending months of protests over a proposed tuition hike have collapsed, with nightly street demonstrations showing no sign of abating.

Four days of negotiations had failed to reach an agreement, provincial premier Jean Charest said Thursday after students presented what they called their "bottom line" position to the Quebec government.

"The negotiations have been suspended," he told a press conference.

"Obviously we're disappointed. I would have preferred to have come to an agreement but unfortunately... there is still a divide between the positions of the government and the representatives of the student associations."


Earlier, student leaders accused the government of breaking off the negotiations for partisan ideological reasons.

The president of the federation of Quebec college students, Leo Bureau-Blouin, said they had presented government negotiators with proposals "that would not have cost the government or taxpayers a thing."

"But for political reasons, the government could not accept our demands," he said.   (AFP)