(Québec) La question de la pénurie de places en garderies a suscité des échanges corsés jeudi au parlement, alors que la députée de Québec solidaire Christine Labrie a cité le témoignage d’une mère qui affirme s’être fait avorter parce qu’il n’y a pas d’aide d’urgence pour les parents en attente d’une place.
Publié à 14h17
Dans une question qu’elle posait au ministre de la Famille, Mathieu Lacombe, Mme Labrie lui a dit « attachez votre tuque », avant de citer l’histoire d’Irène, de Québec, qui a vécu de plein fouet la pénurie de places dans les services de garde éducatifs à l’enfance pour ses derniers enfants.
« “Mon cœur pleure en ce moment, car je viens d’apprendre que je suis enceinte. On a décidé de ne pas le garder, car la situation est tellement difficile pour une place en garderie, et surtout financièrement, c’est tellement dur, que nous ne pouvons pas nous permettre de le garder »”, a lu la députée solidaire en citant le témoignage d’Irène.
« [C’est un] delicate subject. I won’t play politics with this, but I will tell you [que] it surprises me, it surprises me, honestly, to [Christine Labrie], that I appreciate. It amazes me that she uses an argument like that today. But I will tell you, perhaps beyond the errors of the past, we are committed to completing the network, ”replied Mr. Lacombe at the Blue Room.
The Minister for the Family also recalled the government’s investments to complete the network by 2025 so that every child has a place. “We have the most ambitious plan […] [avec] $5.9 billion over five years that we have put in place to guarantee a place for every child. It’s the most ambitious plan we’ve had in 25 years,” he said.
Labrie persists and signs
In a scrum after the question period, Christine Labrie defended her choice to read the testimony of a mother who claims to have had an abortion due to the shortage of childcare places.
I’m not at all uncomfortable that I did that, because it’s real life. That’s what’s happening right now. I saw that the CAQ deputies were extremely uncomfortable hearing a story like that. It is because they hide their face on reality.
Christine Labrie
Mme Labrie was also accompanied by a single mother, Pascale Levasseur, “who had no choice but to go on social assistance” because she could not find a place for her child in daycare.
“There are thousands of people going through the same thing. All you want is to be able to work,” said Ms.me Lifter.
Québec solidaire and the other opposition parties support the request made by Ma place au travail for parents to obtain temporary emergency financial assistance until the government opens enough daycare spaces to eliminate the waiting list. The organization’s founder, Myriam Lapointe-Gagnon, is expected to be a candidate for Québec solidaire in the next election.