This is the first edition of the Red Square Report. There are currently over 108 student associations representing 130 thousand students on strike in Quebec right now, and that number is growing. They are striking to stop the planned tuition hikes by the Charest provincial government, which will amount to a total hike of $1625. For more information check out the main strike website:

www.bloquonslahausse.com

Several student associations, including the Concordia Student Union (CSU) and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA), which represents all of Concordia’s graduate population have passed motions to boycott classes. This is to protest the increase in tuition fees, as announced by the Quebec government in last year’s budget. On March 5th, the graduate student association of the department of Geography, Planning, and Environment made history. They became the first graduate association from an Anglophone university in Quebec to vote in favour of an unlimited strike mandate. Graduate students in Engineering and Computer Science followed the Geography graduate students and voted for an unlimited strike mandate. As of now, over 6,000 graduate students at Concordia have approved unlimited strike mandates in their general assemblies. Political Science and graduate students Matthew Brett, Annie Lalancette and Tom McKirk joins Christine Jeyarajah in studio to discuss the student strike.

This report was originally aired on Off the Hour on CKUT Friday March 9th, 2012, 17h-18h.