About half of Quebec's private, subsidized daycares closed their doors Wednesday for a one-day walkout to protest proposed $15 million in cuts by the Parti Quebecois.

The move – the first of its kind for the Quebec Association of Private Daycares – affected some 300 centres and as many as 30,000 childen.

The crowd of some 3,000 educators and supporters gathered at Emelie-Gamelin Park and marched to government offices on Fullum St., hoping to convince the government not to slash their budget, which would take some 28,000 from every private, subsidized daycare with 80 spots.

“We already have fewer subsidies than the CPEs, so there's already a challenge there. So if we cut back more it will be a lot harder to do our best,” said Nancy Mea of the Garderie au foyer du Bonheur.

Many in the crowd wore a blue square -- a symbolic badge that gave a nod to the student protests of last year.

Premier Pauline Marois and her PQ government threatened to fine any daycare that closed with as much as $4000 in penalties.

Some daycares decided to keep their doors open Wednesday in fear of those fines.

“It's certain that there will be sanctions, because I advised the daycare owners that if they closed, parents have a right to services, and they didn't have those services this morning,” said Family Minister Nicole Leger,

The province seems to have followed through, said Sylvain Levesque, president of the Association of Private Daycares.

“They went to all the private daycare this morning. She has a list of the private daycare and they're knocking at the door to see if we are open… it's unbelievable. It's antidemocratic to me,” he said.

Mother of three Marijana Kuljis said she supported the walkout.

“It does take a village to raise a child and if that village is compromised then the education, the healing and the protection of our children is compromised and I don't think it’s fair,” she said.

Many private daycare operators vow to continue fighting to prevent the proposed cuts. Their next planned rally is on May 30.

“After that we're going to boycott all the committees with the government, because she needs us on the committees, so we won't go anymore,” said Levesque. “We'll see after that what we're going to do.”