Quebec’s provincial election on October 5 will interrupt the academic calendar for many of the province’s students. On August 28, McGill announced that classes, laboratories, and examinations will be cancelled on the day of the election with exceptions for certain health programs and clinical placements. Though the interruption itself will last only a day, electoral results could shape students’ lives long after graduation.
Decisions about tuition and immigration affect where students can afford to study and whether they can remain in Quebec after graduation, yet students in the province do not have equal electoral power over those decisions. Voting in provincial elections requires Canadian citizenship and at least six months of domicile in Quebec, among other conditions. Eligible students can support candidates whose proposals on tuition, university funding, and immigration reflect their needs. Those who cannot vote must navigate the resulting policies without having a ballot to influence who sets them.
For international students hoping to remain in Quebec after graduation, the parties offer different approaches to immigration. According to New Canadian Media’s campaign reporting, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) proposes maintaining annual permanent immigration at 45,000 through 2029, while the Parti Québécois (PQ) proposes lowering that number to 35,000 and prioritizing students and skilled workers already in the province. Québec Solidaire (QS) proposes 70,000 permanent admissions annually and restoring the Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ).
Beyond the parties’ admission targets, eligibility rules determine which graduates can apply to stay. The PEQ currently allows eligible international Quebec graduates and temporary foreign workers to apply for provincial selection for permanent immigration. Its current graduate intake, open until October 31, requires applicants to have obtained an eligible diploma by November 19, 2025, and to meet the program’s other conditions. Students beginning their degrees this fall therefore cannot treat the temporary reopening as a pathway secured for their own graduation.
The PQ’s proposed priority for students already here and QS’s promise to restore the PEQ deserve scrutiny on precisely this point: which students would qualify, under what conditions, and when? An overall admissions target does not answer those questions or guarantee an individual graduate permanent residence. Quebec selects applicants for skilled-worker immigration, while the federal government makes the final decision on permanent residence. Eligible student voters can weigh these competing proposals when choosing their representatives.
Provincial funding helps determine what resources are available for teaching, research,and student support. At McGill’s April 23 Board of Governors meeting, President Deep Saini reported that Quebec’s 2026-27 budget would increase funding for Quebec universities by 5.5 per cent. The board also approved a balanced budget for the 2027 fiscal year while projecting operating deficits of $33 million for the 2028 fiscal year, and a $55 million deficit for 2029.
The parties’ tuition proposals would also benefit different groups of students. According to The Concordian, Québec Solidaire proposes halving tuition for Quebec students during its first term while maintaining current rates for students from outside the province. The CAQ, meanwhile, has defended higher tuition for out-of- province students. A promise to make university more affordable therefore needs to be judged by which students it includes and which students would continue paying the same rates.
Language policy links university funding to another question: how can students from outside Quebec participate in the province’s public life? Under agreements announced in June, Quebec will provide up to $20 million annually across McGill, Concordia, and Bishop’s to support French learning. Beginning with the fall 2026 cohort, the agreements set an institutional target: 60 per cent of out-of-province students in eligible, in-person undergraduate programs should reach level 4 in spoken French on Quebec’s proficiency scale by graduation. Level 4 is the highest beginner level on the provincial scale and involves basic proficiency in everyday communication. If McGill or Concordia misses the target, Quebec can recover a portion of the funding provided, proportional to the shortfall. McGill should explain which French courses count toward degree requirements and provide accessible learning opportunities for students with limited room for electives. A target measured at graduation is only useful if students are given realistic opportunities to reach it.
Learning French can help students follow Quebec’s political debates and participate in them. That participation should include the freedom to question the immigration, tuition, and language policies affecting their lives. McGill’s efforts to encourage engagement with Quebec should therefore give all students, including those who cannot vote, opportunities to discuss and challenge those policies.
For students who cannot vote, participation can include asking questions at public discussions, contributing to student journalism by writing opinion pieces or sharing their own experiences, or working with community organizations. McGill and its student associations can support that participation through bilingual election information and discussions that welcome students with different levels of familiarity with Quebec politics. Students’ concerns should carry weight in university and public debate before October 5 and after the ballots are counted, whether or not they are eligible to vote.