QUEBEC CITY - It has become abundantly clear to all viewers that the debate about Quebec's tuition levels has degraded into folly.

This degradation can be blamed almost exclusively on the student movement, which in its current manifestations in Quebec, England, and Ireland, are an embarrassment to the students they claim to represent.

While the student protests that have engulfed London are certainly the most dramatic, it cannot be forgotten that a quieter version of these events are unfolding across the province of Quebec. Recently, the second Rencontre des partenaires en éducation was held in Quebec City. The Rencontre acts as an opportunity for the Quebec government to consult with key stakeholders in Quebec's post-secondary education. Those invited include an array of labour groups, university administrations, student organizations, and other interested parties.

This year's Rencontre was energetic and dynamic. The discussion surrounding post-secondary education in Quebec holds key consequences for the future Quebec economy. While the province's average investments in research are well above the Canadian average, many issues still persist. Operational expenditures, the life blood of a university's ability to deliver service, continue to lag well behind the Canadian average.

All universities in the province have recorded a deficit. While the lack of financing is not fatal, it is stark, and must be addressed with serious reform. While some improvements could be made in terms of operational expenditures, there is little room for Quebec's government to finance new investments. In this area, it is near capacity. Necessary future austerity measures will prevent Quebec City from playing a larger role in university financing. In short, this is a difficult time for Quebec, as it struggles to get its finances in order while still meeting new demands.

The only other option then is to raise revenues from the other primary financial input: tuition. It is a well known fact that Quebec enforces a tuition freeze that produces the lowest standardized tuition rate in all of Canada. For Quebec's students tuition currently sits at approximately $2415 per year - an artificial freeze that has left Quebec's universities gasping for air.

Several members of the Rencontre proposed and endorsed an increase of the tuition fee to $3900 per year. The heightened cap is modest, and echoes earlier calls by McGill University Principal Heather Munroe-Blum for tuition reform. It also echoes the "Pact for the Competitive Funding of our Universities", signed by several major players in Quebec education, which also called for a modest tuition increase. All of these important stakeholders have signaled the need for a fresh discussion on tuition rates.

The only actors who are being completely unreasonable are the motley assortment of student activists and student unions who have done their best to stonewall negotiations. In Quebec, the two prominent players in this sabotage are FEUQ and the Quebec Student Roundtable. Rather than contribute a student voice to the discussion, both groups were satisfied with walking out of the meeting.

Their talking points are clear: there will be no tuition increases. No negotiation, no compromise, no discussion; students are not to pay a penny more. This stance is completely unfeasible.

The student movement has abandoned any pretense of interest in participating in the process. Instead, student activists were content to protest in Quebec City while others inside the meeting discussed reasonable proposals to reform the PSE financing model. One QSR member even suggested that tuition changes could result in a general student strike. These strikes, of course, are of a similar flavour to those currently terrorizing London's streets.

Students are poorly served by these supposed representatives. The Quebec government should aggressively pursue reform no matter the threats from a cadre of student activists.