Bernard Drainville is gaslighting the public. Call it what it is: “austerity”

2025-2026 budget rules: a brutal return to cuts

The government is driving education right back into the austerity wall. The 2025-2026 budget rules are plunging our school network into a downward spiral. Insufficient indexing, measures eliminated or reduced, and job cuts announced in several school centers and boards. The intent is clear: direct services to students are being cut, period.

Meanwhile, Minister Drainville continues to boast about his so-called prioritization of education. The public deserves to hear the truth: this government is cutting what really matters.

Students and support staff pay the price

The consequences in our schools are immediate. Less staff and more work for those who remain. The result: services are collapsing and struggling students are being left behind. The valorization of school staff that the government pretends to promote? Empty words. It’s the complete opposite on the ground: hiring freezes, cuts, work overload. Imagine: fewer human resources but more pressure on those who keep the system running.

“We talk about educational success, but we’re cutting what’s needed to achieve it. We’re managing based on a budget, not on what’s needed. Enough with the hypocrisy,” says Fédération du personnel de soutien scolaire (FPSS-CSQ) President Éric Pronovost.

School organizations affected

All school service centers and boards are affected. The extent of the budget cuts varies depending on their size, but the impacts are devastating. The staff assignment sessions scheduled for this week have been canceled and postponed because the budget envelope has changed. The minister is tarnishing the entire system with his cuts.

Schools are falling apart with a 90% budget cut

There’s more: the budget for building maintenance, which was nearly $1 billion in 2023-2024, is melting like snow in the sun, cut in half this year and reduced to just $100 million for 2025-2026. A 90% drop in two years. This means just one in ten schools will be repaired. The other nine will fall into disrepair. This is what the government calls “investing the future.”

“We talk about a strong Quebec while our schools are falling apart – literally and figuratively,” adds Pronovost.

A minister who is deconstructing the system

Let’s be frank: Bernard Drainville is betraying his mission. The decisions he is making are not strengthening the system, they’re making it weaker. He’s not reforming anything: he’s deconstructing. He talks about development, success, and building a strong Quebec, but he’s wreaking havoc on the public sector.

Pronovost wonders: “Does the minister still have the legitimacy to lead this ministry? The sector has lost faith in him. The public has the right to know that we are clearly returning to a period of austerity.”

The Fédération du personnel de soutien scolaire (FPSS-CSQ) is calling on the government to stop the cuts, invest massively in student services, and show genuine respect for those who ensure success.