Globe and Mail: Quebec leaders stand behind McGill in dispute with government

The cream of corporate Quebec is pooling its support around McGill University and criticizing the provincial government in an increasingly bitter and public spat over tuition fees. Some of the top CEOs in the province, including Power Corp.’s André Desmarais and BMO Nesbitt Burns’s Jacques Ménard, signed an open letter reproaching Quebec’s Education Minister for her decision to punish the Montreal university over its tuition hike for MBA students. The heavy hitters say Quebec’s Education Ministry, which opposes McGill’s massive fee hike by insisting all universities remain on equal footing, is encouraging mediocrity. “We won’t build the future of Quebec by asking universities to choose between excellence and access,” says the letter with 45 signatories.