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Our research focuses on the government’s discursive strategy during the 2012 Maple Spring in Quebec, particularly on the formulas used to influence public opinion. Through a content analysis of 100 articles from five Quebec newspapers, we studied 152 formulas with regard to their distribution in time, the entities they targeted, the speakers who used them, and the framing strategies they conveyed. The analysis revealed several aspects, including the presence of multiple speakers and targets as part of the discursive strategy. The discourse and the formulas that were used sought to delegitimize the students, but also to frame the image of the government itself, and that of its political opponents. Eventually, the concept of formula allowed us to produce units of analysis that could be studied empirically with regard to framing, and to contribute to the analysis of the Maple Spring as a socio-discursive event.