Quebec student protesters find creative ways around controversial new law

In principle, higher education should be totally free and available to all. Same for heath care. Canada has come close to achieving the latter, but it's a balancing act as to where the tax dollars go. Health care is a universal need, whereas the tuition freeze benefits those currently in the university system. 

I understand the interest (plus principal) on student loans can grow into a serious financial burden. I have a close family member who owes tens of thousands of dollars. Good-paying starter jobs are scarce. Solutions are elusive, but tying reimbursement rates to actual post-graduation salaries (with deductions at source) could be made the norm.

But the short answer is no, I don't back the student protests. A position that puts me at odds with most of my leftist friends. Quebec universities are world-class, and tuition of about $2,000 per year is something students in most countries would take to the streets to obtain. (We charge out-of-province students more, BTW.)

The current government made clear before the last election that it intended to end the tuition freeze. Student leaders made the calculation that protests and class boycotts could make it back down, as previous governments had. When that tactic failed, the demos became increasingly violent. 

Students who tried to attend classes won injunctions, but boycotters disrupted them anyway. We're now at the stage of nightly marches, barricades and bonfires, the occasional molotov cocktail, smoke bombs in the subway, and hundreds arrested. It's ugly, but I don't see caving in as an option for the government. Most of the population agrees.