QUEBEC CITY – Gina Gaspirini is furious she was never consulted about changing the payment system for universal daycare.
Her organization, the Association québécoise des centres de la petite enfance (AQCPE), represents 700 public daycares in the province, and she said she only found out about the idea on Thursday morning, via the media.
“This is a real tragedy.”
“It really is, because we’ve worked over the last few years really, really hard to put together a universal child care system,” she said at a press conference.
“It’s what distinguishes us from all the other childcare systems around the world.”
Parents currently pay $7 a day for childcare in this province. This amount is already set to be indexed to $7.30 on October 1.
Watch: Indexing daycare fees in Quebec
But if reports are true, it will be much more starting next year for parents earning a higher income.
The government isn’t revealing much about this new sliding scale, only that it is looking at scenarios.
“I will not comment on an article in the newspaper because no decision has been taken with regard to any program,” said President of the Treasury Board Martin Coiteux.
“We are in the process of examining everything,”
But it didn’t take long for political parties to react.
“It’s a direct attack on the middle class,” said Parti Quebecois House Leader Agnes Maltais.
The PQ accused the Liberal government of breaking its election promise and choking the middle class.
“You’ll see,” Maltais warned.
“It’ll be unmanageable.”
The CSN union that represents daycare workers said a sliding scale is the worst possible idea.
“Raising fees will have all sorts of impacts,” CSN President Jacques Létourneau said.
“More women may choose to stay home.”
It is still unclear whether the sliding scale would also apply to childcare services in schools.
Comments