MONTREAL—Jean Charest’s decision to opt for the heavy artillery to tamp down striking student protesters has earned him some sharp criticism, but the public seems very much in his corner.

As the government passed controversial emergency legislation Friday to try to bring calm back to the streets, a new poll by CROP, conducted for La Presse and published Saturday, shows public support for the government’s position at its highest level ever.

Since the student strike over planned tuition hikes began more than three months ago, the streets of Montreal have been witness to daily, sometimes violent, protests. Clashes have occurred at colleges and universities.

In the face of all this, a large majority of survey respondents, 68 per cent, said they were in favour of the government’s position to raise the fees, while 32 per cent were in favour of the students.’

In addition, 66 per cent said they were in favour of the government’s emergency legislation, with 34 per cent opposed.

The Internet panel of 800 Quebecers did not have a random character, so a margin of error wasn’t provided.

The public appears firmly onside, but that didn’t stop a flurry of critics from coming down hard on the government Friday, a day Montreal newspaper Le Devoir carried the front-page headline, “Declaration of war on students.”

They denounced Bill 78 and its perceived heavy-handedness. Some called it a threat to Charter-protected freedoms of expression and assembly.

Among other measures, the legislation seeks to vastly stiffen the rules that govern demonstrations. Police must be informed eight hours in advance of the time, duration and route of any protest of 50 people or more. Police can order changes to the plans. Organizers or student associations also must ensure the protest complies with plans given to police.

The law would “infringe the constitutional and fundamental rights of citizens,” the head of the Quebec Bar Association, Louis Masson, commented. “The extent of these limitations to fundamental liberties is not justified to reach the objectives of the government.”

Lucie Lemonde, a professor of law at the of L’Université du Québec à Montréal, said it was the strictest law of its kind since the notorious War Measures Act, imposed in Quebec during the 1970 FLQ crisis.

Even those who have supported the Quebec Liberal government’s plans were skeptical.

Éric Duhaime, of the conservative citizens’ group Réseau Liberté-Québec, labeled the bill “liberticide” and defended the right of protesters to express the leftist ideas he nevertheless finds “detestable.”

Le Journal de Montreal columnist Richard Martineau, who has shown he’s no fan of the student strikers, wrote on Twitter that Charest was “missing the ball, big time. Was he obliged to go so far? When the fireman adds fuel to the fire.”

The government earlier this week announced the suspension of the semester at all the junior colleges and university departments affected by the strike, postponing classes to August. The fall session would start in October.

Meanwhile, all those who would prevent students from attending classes would face heavy fines, according to the law.

Student associations have said they will challenge the bill in the courts. An Internet petition in support of such a move had already been shared 64,000 times on Facebook by Friday evening.

In the National Assembly, the bill was passed — with a few amendments — with the support of the Coalition avenir Québec party.

Opposition politicians called the bill indefensible.

“Are spontaneous demonstrations illegal from now on in Quebec?” asked Parti Québécois MNA Alexandre Cloutier.

Education Minister Michelle Courchesne said protesting must be done in a “safe way” and that the new law assures that will happen.

“The right to protest is total,” Courchesne said. “What we are saying is that spontaneity can also create excesses. Our responsibility is public security.”

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Katherine Laflamme wasn’t buying it. Laflamme used to support the Liberal party. She even worked in a cabinet minister’s office last summer.

But the conflict, and Bill 78, have turned the Université Laval communications student firmly against the party.

“It threatens our fundamental rights,” she said. “We must be able to show our displeasure against a government in a democracy.”

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