The higher Education minister is shrugging off the ASSÉ student groups' ultimatum.
He also has little to say about the biting criticism from the principal of McGill.

The hard-line group, ASSÉ, has said that if free tuition is not seriously considered at the PQ's upcoming Education summit, it will boycott the event.

But, Duchesne says it's not an option for the government, now or in the medium term. "We can't go in that direction," he says.

He says, though, that ASSÉ can present its arguments, and submit discussion papers online and on Facebook.

But, Duchesne says there are people saying that Quebec has to increase  taxes for bankers, change its tax structures, and combat tax havens. "Well, I just want to announce to people that to combat tax havens, we have to achieve sovereignty," he says.

McGill

McGill's principal Heather Munroe-Blum also took a few hard swipes at the Parti Quebecois' upcoming summit.

She told the Gazette that she still has not seen a list of participants, an agenda, or the subjects that are up for discussion.

She told the Quebec daily Le Devoir that meetings so far have not allowed open debate, and she called the summit at "joke."

"I hope the joke is funny," says Duchesne. He said he did not want to comment very much the principal's statements. "I decided we would not take the road of confrontation. We know where that brought us last year," he says.