MONTREAL - After weeks of long-distance finger-pointing and posturing, the Quebec government and student groups finally found themselves seated around the same table Monday.
The acrimony between the sides has been so intense, given raucous street protests against tuition hikes, that simply organizing a meeting proved challenging.
It remained unclear whether Monday's encounter might actually bear any fruit. The government made it clear it wouldn't back down from planned fee increases, while student groups continued insisting on a reversal.
The fact the students and government were meeting, however, represented a considerable change from recent weeks when protesters vandalized government buildings, converged outside Premier Jean Charest's family home and trashed the offices of Education Minister Line Beauchamp.
Before agreeing to a meeting, Beauchamp had established conditions -- notably, that the protesters condemn violence. She added a new condition earlier Monday: that the protesters agree to a temporary "truce."
Beauchamp had asked the students to put a stop to tactics that might disrupt the economy and social peace while talks were taking place.
"I'm not asking the student groups to reject their pressure tactics forever... I'm asking for a truce for several hours," Beauchamp said.
"I'm inviting them, I'm waiting for them."
Until Monday, the province and student groups had been unable to agree even on conditions for a meeting, with the presence of the most radical of three main groups, named the C.L.A.S.S.E., a main sticking point.
The C.L.A.S.S.E. group expressed befuddlement over the government request for a temporary truce. It said there weren't any disruptions planned "over the next 48 hours," anyway.
"The minister is out in left field," the group said on Twitter.
Later in the day, group spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois sounded a more constructive tone when meeting with reporters in Quebec City.
"The truce she's asking us for is de facto in effect," Nadeau-Dubois said.
"We will participate in the negotiation process... We're part of the discussion, we're part of the dialogue. We're very proud of that."
The group has warned, however, it will remain firm on continuing the student protests if the government doesn't budge on tuition hikes.
The two sides remain far apart on the substance of the issue that has inflamed Quebec this spring.
The government says it won't back down on its plan to hike tuition fees by roughly 75 per cent over five years. The fee increase would leave Quebec tuition levels at $3,800 per year, still among the lowest in Canada.
Meanwhile, protesters have been voicing a variety of different demands: some are asking for a freeze on tuition hikes, some want tuition scrapped altogether, and some are even voicing a desire for broader social and economic change.
The government has not necessarily suffered politically from the dispute. Polls have suggested Quebecers support the fee hikes. However, those surveys have also revealed Quebecers' stated preference is for some sort of compromise that might keep the peace.
