BOUCHERVILLE, Que. - Students in Quebec are promising a summer of protests unless the provincial government abandons its plan to raise tuition fees.
About 200 students gathered Sunday outside a hotel on Montreal's South Shore where Premier Jean Charest addressed members of the Quebec Liberal party.
"We're ramping up the pressure," said Leo Blouin-Office, head of the Quebec Federation of College Students.
"It's been more than a year that we've been in talks with the Charest government and they won't listen."
The province is planning to raise university tuition fees by $325 a year for five years, beginning in 2012.
The increases would bring tuition for Quebec students to $3,793 in 2016-17, up from the current $2,168.
That would still leave the province 30 per cent below the 2010 Canadian average.
Education Minister Line Beauchamp said the status quo is not an option.
"We must move forward," she said. "The decision is made and I think that even among students, there are a number of students who understand that decision."
But Quebec student union leaders vowed their anger over the planned hikes won't dissipate over the summer holidays.
They say they are worried the higher tuition fees will further complicate efforts to fund their education.
"There's no doubt the protests will gain momentum if the Charest government doesn't change its decision to raise tuition fees," said Louis-Philippe Savoie, head of the Quebec Federation of University Students.
Students are planning to set up a sleep-in camp across from the Education Minister's offices in the next few weeks.
Several protests have already been staged since the tuition-hike plan was unveiled in Quebec's March 17 budget.
Several people were arrested last Thursday after a rally in downtown Montreal turned sour.
Montreal riot police used stun grenades and pepper spray to disperse a rowdy group of students after scuffling with them outside a government building.
Sunday's protest went off peacefully, with police watching from the sidelines as students sang, danced and waved placards.