"We're not attacking Montreal," Legault government says in response to Plante over tuition hike comments

QUEBEC — Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante must do more than pay to save metropolitan France, the Legault government said Thursday.

French Language Minister Jean-Francois Roberge hit back at Plante for saying the Quebec government's hike in university tuition was an attack on the city, accusing him of talking the talk but not walking the walk in defense of the French language.

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“Montreal is the francophone metropolis of North America,” Roberge told reporters when he arrived for the daily question period. “It should be more than a slogan. The mayor of Montreal should be an ally of the government in this effort.

“When the mayor presents himself as a defender of the right of non-Quebecs to study in Montreal, I say, as we say in English, 'no mercy, thank you.'”

According to Roberge, Plante cannot claim that Montreal is the Francophone metropolis of Quebec “against the French fact of Montreal.”

“It doesn't make sense. The French are in dire straits in Montreal. It's normal for us to act throughout Quebec, but we're doing something special in Montreal,” he said. “We are not attacking Montreal. We are not attacking anyone. We will make bold laws, bold measures to protect the French.”

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Roberge described Plante's comments as wrong.

“We have to work together,” he said. “I have had some discussions (with the mayor) and there will be more discussions. We need to agree on some policies and measures to protect the French.”

Roberge Plante responded to his comments to reporters after a ceremony at City Hall on Wednesday. While both McGill and Concordia Avenir are fighting the Quebec government's plan to increase tuition for out-of-province students at English universities, Plante has called on the government to listen to its own advisory committee, which opposes the measure.

“We see this as a direct attack on Montreal, and it's not fair,” Plante said Wednesday in his strongest criticism yet.

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