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Trudeau offered his opinions on Quebec language legislation and on tuition fees, while also reiterating his promise to increase federal involvement in education.

Speaking at his alma mater, McGill University, he offered indications that a Trudeau prime ministership would be a marked departure from a Harper era defined by a hands-off approach to provincial issues.

Trudeau says the federal government should play a bigger role in education — as long as it respects provincial jurisdiction.

“We need to be the best-educated country in the world,” Trudeau said, describing his goal to increase post-secondary enrolment from 50 to 70 per cent.

“That’s a position that Mr. Harper certainly won’t take because he doesn’t particularly believe in national leadership, and secondly, Mr. Mulcair certainly wouldn’t take it because he’s so worried about his nationalistic base in Quebec to feel that talking about education is something that the federal government can do — but it is.”

“We have to do it in a way that respects provincial jurisdiction, but we need to understand that education will be the single-most important thing to get right in the coming years.”

He also weighed in on two Quebec political issues that have made headlines in recent days.

Trudeau says he thinks the Parti Quebecois’ plan to tighten language laws goes too far. Later in the day, at another stop, he even teased the government over an ongoing internal spat in which party figures are divided over whether Montreal’s metro system should offer guaranteed bilingual service.