Éric Duhaime reiterated Thursday his commitment to offer taxable assistance of $ 200 per week and per child to each Quebec parent, firing red balls on the Legault government’s record in terms of early childhood services.
Posted at 12:03 p.m.
“They came to power telling us that they were going to reduce the wait. At the time, there were 42,000 parents waiting for a place in a CPE. Not only has the government not kept its word, but as we speak, we have reached 52,000. The situation has not improved, it has deteriorated, ”insisted Mr. Duhaime, during a press briefing held in Saint-Léonard.
In his eyes, it is “on this that the government must be judged, and that the voters must choose”.
Earlier, on August 19, ie before the start of the election campaign, the CAQ had pledged to inject $1.4 billion over five years to convert all non-subsidized daycare spaces into subsidized spaces. The measure will, according to the Minister of the Family Mathieu Lacombe, solve a problem that has persisted for years.
But for Éric Duhaime, “it’s once again window dressing”. “The question we have to ask is: can you still trust the people who told you they were going to solve the problem four years ago?” he exclaimed.
His party is proposing an overhaul of the method of financing daycare centers and CPEs, by giving each establishment the choice of setting its own rates. It would thus be up to the parents to “make their choices”. In the long term, the objective would be to reduce as much as possible, or even eliminate the public financing of the network.
In return, Éric Duhaime would offer a “childcare voucher” of $200 per week per parent, or a taxable amount of just over $10,000 annually. “As soon as a Conservative government is elected, it is certain that we will set up a parliamentary commission and we will consult everyone,” the Conservative leader promised on Thursday, promising to continue to subsidize the public network “for a few years” to allow for a certain “transition”.
“The goal is not to dismantle the network, but to improve it, rather than a regime that leaves people out,” concluded Mr. Duhaime, saying “believe in competition and freedom of choice” .
According to him, several childcare services – including the one where he was on Thursday, Garderie Belagir in Saint-Léonard – “are actually capable of accommodating many more people”. “There are child care centers that are being cannibalized,” he charged.