Another Day... Another Protest

Good Morning Everyone! I hope everyone's week is going well and that you are all ready for another weekend. I have to say... this has been another slow week for me and I am happy it is almost Friday. I think it has been a difficult week for many people in MTL as it has been another week full of disruptions resulting from the ongoing student protests that have taken over our city for the past few months. If you aren't from MTL, or even from Canada, then you may not be aware of the battle that is going on in our city over a rise in tuition. Despite the fact that Quebec has the lowest tuition fees in the country, students have been out of class for 10 weeks now fighting the $325 per year increase over the next five years which will bring the total to $3,800 per year (which is still much lower than all the other provinces). Without getting too much into the politics of it, you can read that by clicking here or here ... the students have now turned their 'peaceful protests' into angry and downright dangerous acts of violence. 

Picture from Globe and Mail

From throwing bags of bricks on the subway tracks, forcing them to be shut down for hours, to gas bombs in the subway tunnels, the protests have taken an ugly turn. As someone who works in downtown Mtl, not a day goes by when my day isn't disrupted by these students. Now, I'm all about people standing up for what they believe in... but these students are blocking public transport, access to office towers and main downtown streets. They are keeping the hard-working taxpayers, the very same taxpayers who are paying their taxes to subsidies their tuition from actually getting to work (and in turn make money to pay their taxes). 

Picture from Canada.com

Something doesn't seem right here. Someone didn't think this through. Unfortunately, these few are giving a face to the many and are giving these protests a bad name. They have lost the support and the sympathy of the people and the police are now routinely having to step in to break up the violence. Furthermore, the students who actually do want to attend classes are not being able to and they will now have to attend school into the summer... which will cause most of them to lose their summer jobs as well as possible careers. The best part of all of this is that most of these protesters wear masks or bandannas to cover their faces... Seems to me, if I was fighting for something I believed it, I would be proud to stand there and show my face. But that's just me. 

Picture from Canada.com 

This morning, after enjoying a great early morning breakfast with my dad, we left the restaurant to see the street swarming with police. I went in a different direction than my father, but he called me to let me know the students were out and to be careful. I was worried at first, but then saw that there were police officers on every single street corner and knew they wouldn't bother me. More taxpayers money being wasted. When is this going to stop? 


Update: In case you were interested, here is the article on this mornings protest. 

With Love,

S