Monday, November 1, 2010

Did Dave Molenhuis mislead the Standing Committee of Finance?


When Dave Molenhuis appeared before the Commons Standing Committee of Finance on October 20th 2010 as part of the Government's pre-budget consultations, he was asked this question by Bloc Quebecois MP Daniel Paillé:

Mr. Chair, my question is for the Canadian Federation of Students. First of all, I would like to know why your Association only has four universities and one CEGEP from Quebec, and no French-speaking association, whether it be from Université du Québec, Université de Montréal, HEC, École Polytechnique de Montréal or CEGEPs.
Molenhuis promptly (and strategically) played the independence card:
I thank the member for the question.Very briefly, it's part of the founding principle of the student movement in Canada to respect the right of students in Quebec to self-organize. There are student unions that have been formed in the province that we certainly work in partnership with. It was only a recent development actually that students in Quebec had expressed an interest in joining the national student movement. We still do work with La Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec as well as the CEGEP organization, La Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec.
Really? "It was only a recent development actually that students in Quebec had expressed an interest in joining the national student movement."

That's odd? I was sure that, at one point not too long ago, there was a wing of the Canadian Federation of Students in Québec. Ohhhh! Right! I guess Mr. Molenhuis wouldn't want to bring up this little hiccup with its former CFS-Q. Furthermore, I would assume that it would be slightly embarrassing to have to admit that a number of institutions, including three from the province of Quebec, are involved in lawsuits with the CFS.
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