Minister threatens to hit private daycares with stiff fines

QUEBEC CITY – Family Minister Nicole Léger has told private subsidized daycares each day of strike will cost them a minimum of $3,750 in fines.

“I will never tolerate that parents be taken hostage by their pressure tactics,” she said.

Private subsidized daycares have been asked to cut $14.9 million from their budget this year to help meet Quebec’s zero deficit objective. Government figures show each daycare pockets around $100,000 in profit annually. They are being asked to give up $21,000, an insignificant amount according to the minister.

Sylvain Lévesque, President of the Quebec Private Daycares Association, said it’s not as simple as it sounds. He said $21,000 is actually a lot of money for operators who need to buy equipment and keep buildings running. Lévesque proposed that the government save on building costs by creating more places in the private network and less in the public. It costs taxpayers around $2.5 million to build a new $7-a-day public daycare.

Léger dismissed the suggestion as nonsense. She added she won’t hesitate to hit daycares with hefty fines. On Friday, opposition parties at the National Assembly couldn’t believe the minister’s approach. They called it undemocratic and hypocritical. The PQ once supported public daycare protests.

“Mme Léger, when she talks about the private sector, well she has a dogmatic attitude against them,” said Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) House leader Gérard Deltell.

Liberal MNA Kathleen Weil added, “We find that the minister’s attitude is very intransigeant and we don’t think it’s helpful at all. It’s almost discriminatory the way she treats the private daycare network as opposed to the CPEs.”

As tension builds, and the two parties find themselves in a standoff, the minister warns the fines will only get bigger if private subsidized daycares continue to strike. Lévesque said he won’t back down; the first day of strike is scheduled for next Wednesday, May 22nd.