McGill, Concordia drop legal battle with Quebec government over tuition hikes

Feb 27, 2026 | 2:28 PM

MONTREAL — Concordia and McGill universities say they are abandoning their legal challenge against the Quebec government’s decision to maintain a 33 per cent tuition hike for out-of-province students.

The English universities won a ruling last April after the Superior Court overturned the hike of about $3,000, finding that it was unreasonable.

But the province formally entrenched the tuition increase in a revised framework published in January, saying the government wanted to ensure Quebec taxpayers weren’t subsidizing the education of out-of-province students.

Premier François Legault has said the tuition hike is in part to reduce the number of English-speaking people in Montreal and protect the French language.