Posted October 21, 2026 4:36 pm.
The CSQ, which has been campaigning for two years for a general assembly on education, has just taken a decisive step, as Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon explicitly gave his new Minister of Education the mandate to hold one “as early as the beginning of 2027”.
By appointing Joël Arseneau as Minister of Education on Wednesday, the Premier gave him this mandate. “We have therefore reached the point where the school system, clearly, must be rethought,” stated St-Pierre Plamondon.
The premier himself described the task as “colossal”, adding that the new minister Arseneau would have to find commissioners, follow the discussions, ensuring that everything was done with “balance” and, above all, taking into account the students and parents, not just interest groups.
He listed several topics of interest, including the fight against dropping out, the promotion of vocational training, violence in schools, and social diversity in schools.
Earlier in the day, at a press conference, the CSQ reiterated its demand to hold such a general assembly. This time, it received support from academia, education, politics, other unions, and prominent figures from various backgrounds.
Seventy signatories support a declaration to this effect, including media personality Ricardo Larrivée, pediatrician Jean-François Chicoine, education specialist Normand Baillargeon, and also representatives of the Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce, the Quebec Employers Council and the Quebec Federation of School Administrators.
The CSQ met in Quebec City on Wednesday, with approximately 350 people, as part of the “In Action for Education” movement.
In an interview, CSQ President Éric Gingras explained that the union federation, whose members are mostly educators, didn’t want just a weekend of reflection. They wanted a process that would bring together relevant stakeholders from across society and extend over several months.
She also wanted consensus to be reached, from early childhood to higher education.
“For the past 10 years, especially the last eight, we’ve had a government that told us it didn’t want to do any wishful thinking and take too long to think. It wanted to act; well, it acted. And it didn’t do any good, because it’s worse than it was. So now, it’s time to think before acting,” Gingras said.
“Everything must be put on the table,” he believes: the three-tiered school system, artificial intelligence, students who do not eat in the morning, those who do not have learning support services, the predictability of education funding, etc.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
