Passing through Saint-Léonard on Thursday morning, the leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), Éric Duhaime, said that “freedom of choice” is also to promote competition between CPEs and private daycares.
“Today, I wanted to meet the representatives of private daycares, because they give us the assurance that, very quickly, they will be able to fill the missing places,” said the Conservative leader, in a room with walls colors of the Belagir daycare.
If elected, Mr. Duhaime promises to gradually eliminate public funding for CPEs and subsidized daycare centers during his term. Each childcare service would be free to set its own rate. Parents would instead benefit from childcare vouchers of $200 per week per child.
The approximately 52,000 names on the waiting list to obtain a subsidized place constitute “one of the dark pages” of the Legault government. “It is not normal that taxpayers pay such a high price for a system and that tens of thousands of young people do not have access to this service,” insisted Éric Duhaime.
The latter believes that it is “not normal” for a parent who works outside the typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule to finance the Quebec early childhood network without having access to it.
On Thursday, the Conservative bus travels through the Montreal region. Last Sunday, at the start of the election campaign, Éric Duhaime said he wanted to garner more support in Montreal. “We have to go west, slowly but surely,” he said.
For the time being, the ridings where the PCQ could get members elected are mainly in Beauce and the Quebec region.
Further details will follow.