Translating the printemps érable

Tommy Chouinard    August 8, 2012

Original French Text: http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/elections-quebec-2012/201208/08/01-4563394-loi-78-jean-charest-sen-remet-au-jugement-de-la-police.php

Incumbent Premier Jean Charest will defer to the judgement of police to determine if Law 78 has to be forcibly applied.  

Jean Charest, unlike this CAQ adversary François Legault, does not envision sanctions against professors who refuse to cross picket lines to give classes.  

The Liberal party leader was walking on eggshells on Wednesday as journalists asked him what he would do if the return to classes did not go smoothly in any of the 14 universities and colleges affected by the student strike.  

The night before, he was content to simply say, “The law must be respected.”  When asked on Wednesday if police officers will have to enforce the law at any cost, he answered, “When applying laws, police have to use their judgement in all situations.  That is what they have done, and that is what they will continue to do.”  

He also defers to the “good judgement” of educational institutions when choosing what measures to take to ensure that the return to classes happens in an orderly way next week.  

“There may be difficult situations.  If that is the case, people will use their good judgement.  The law is there so that it can be applied, but in a context of using good judgement,” he explained at a press conference in Montréal.  

“We trust the judgement of the leaders of colleges.  They are in the best position to determine what action must be taken to ensure security for everyone.”

He said that he approves of the decision to hire security guards for cégeps.  ”Each establishment has to make decisions based on its needs,” he said.  He says it is normal that the Fédération des cégeps met with Montréal police today.  ”I think people want all possible precautions to be taken,” he said. 

At this time, he does not imagine sanctions against professors who refuse to cross picket lines to give classes.  ”We are not at the point of sanctions now,” he said.  ”There is no reason to think that the return to classes will be anything but calm.”

But what will he do if it is not calm?  ”That is a hypothetical question,” he answered.  ”We will take it one step at a time,” he said.  ”This is not the time to imagine all kinds of possible scenarios.  We have to give the return to classes time to happen.”

“If there is a sword of Damocles,” he said, “I’m not the one holding it, but rather the students,” he added.  ”It’s not me who is choosing to do these things: I denounce such things.”  

***

Translated from the original French by Translating the printemps érable.

*Translating the printemps érable is a volunteer collective attempting to balance the English media’s extremely poor coverage of the student conflict in Québec by translating media that has been published in French into English. These are amateur translations; we have done our best to translate these pieces fairly and coherently, but the final texts may still leave something to be desired. If you find any important errors in any of these texts, we would be very grateful if you would share them with us at translatingtheprintempsderable@gmail.com. Please read and distribute these texts in the spirit in which they were intended; that of solidarity and the sharing of information.