Claude Marchand

By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

Claude Marchand says that “as ‘un p’tit gars de Laval,’” he absolutely feels betrayed by the Quebec government. The president and CEO of Lasalle College was born and raised in Ste. Dorothée. His father, Jacques, was the general manager before him. Marchand fils has been with the organization for the past sixteen years. The $30 million dollars in fines recently leveled at the college by the Coalition Avenir Quebec government falls on his shoulders.

Lasalle College received the notice from Pascale Déry’s Ministry of Higher Education, last week, about the total of the two fines it is now facing, stemming from what the government sees as a contravention of Law 14 (Bill 96).

The fines, Marchand says, constitute an existential threat to the college. “Which company or which institution could afford that?” Even when Bill 96 was in its infancy, Marchand tells The Suburban, the administration said the law would constitute a threat to the college.

“We told them they were killing us since day one.”

The law sets a cap on the number of students that can enroll in English programs in public CEGEPs and in institutions like Lasalle College, a subsidized private college.

In March of 2023, with enrollment for the school year already set, the government notified the college that they were going to be over the number of students allowed by the law by just over 700. Marchand said the college knew that, and had acknowledged as much “from the very beginning.” That garnered a fine of $8.78 million. Then, last October, enrollment was over by 1000, for which they were fined another $21.11 million.

Lasalle College does not have more students enrolled in English programs now than it did in 2019. But the law, as it stands, with its “mathematical formula,” Marchand says, puts that number over the limit.

The college had asked for a transition period so that they could reach full compliance. It took two years to readjust to the law, to get students already enrolled through to graduation, and then implement a moratorium on certain programs to ensure full compliance by next fall.

The government turned down that request.

Déry posted to her X account last Friday, responding to media reports about the situation. “LaSalle College is the only subsidized private institution that does not comply with the law and has defied the Charter of the French Language, despite close support and several warnings.”

French language minister Jean-Francois Roberge also took to X, echoing Déry’s post, saying “No one is above the law,” adding “We will stop at nothing to protect the French language.”

“Whatever Mme. Déry thinks we’re doing wrong,” Marchand says, “she’s missing the full point of our incredible contribution to (Quebec) society since 66 years.”

Lasalle College, Marchand says, is a success story that they have exported to the world. “We operate campuses in ten countries. So, we’re a true flagship for Quebec and Canada on five continents. And our biggest enemy,” he says, “is our Quebec government.”

Premier Francois Legault, Marchand says, “speaks a lot about external threats south of the border, but what’s the rationale by fining his own success story here in Quebec?” There’s no valid reason, he says. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

The Association des collèges privés du Québec (ACPQ) has since released a statement in support of Lasalle College. “During consultations surrounding Bill 96, the ACPQ had already recommended a gradual implementation of the new measures,” the statement says. “The penalty system as proposed is applied unfairly and excessively.” The organization has called on the Legault government to implement a more “reasonable, fair, and realistic solution to avoid irreversible consequences for LaSalle College and all of its students.”

The college had filed suit with Quebec superior court to fight the $8.78 million fine, but says it will add the second fine to the lawsuit.

“My best guess is that the prime minister Legault, as an entrepreneur, was not properly briefed” on the matter. And that is the college’s objective, Marchand says, to open a dialogue with the government in the hopes that “le gros bon sens,” common sense, prevails. n