MONTREAL – A new political party in Quebec is offering what it calls a reasonable alternative in the tuition crisis.
   
The Coalition For Quebec’s Future, led by Francois Legault, says it will set tuition hikes at 200 dollars per year over five years.
   
That’s somewhere between the Liberal government’s planned increase of 254 dollars over seven years and the rate-of-inflation increases proposed by the opposition P-Q.
   
Legault would also delay implementing the hikes for another semester, only bringing them in next January.
   
He says one way to pay for the changes would be to pare back a tuition tax credit.
   
Legault also proposed scrapping parts of the province’s controversial anti-protest law — a law his own party voted for — which would set severe fines for anyone blocking a school.
   
Quebec Premier Jean Charest is widely expected to call an election this week for Sept. 4.
   
The tuition issue could flare up in coming weeks, as an election campaign gets underway while protesting students are supposed to return to class in mid-August.