Tex-Mex chicken Tuesday just ain't what it used to be at Les P'tits Soleils in Laval.
The daycare has gone almost all vegetarian, but not by choice. They’re facing a reduction in their budget of roughly $60,000, part of $74 million in cuts to the Quebec daycare system.
“It was tough at first, because the kids weren’t eating what they would on a normal menu,” said Les P’tits Soleils staff member Jennifer Possian.
Going partially vegetarian will save the daycare $15,000 and longtime staff are saying there is nowhere else left to cut.
“We just had our biggest fundraiser of the year in hopes that next year we’ll be able to supply basics like construction paper,” said Possian. “So yes, we cut in the kitchen, but it’s not the only place we made these drastic cuts.”
The Quebec government has said that daycares can do more by slashing administrative fees and that a 3 per cent cut to a system that costs taxpayers $2.4 billion per year isn’t asking too much. But daycares say they have already cut down to the bone.
“(One daycare in Laval) operates at 1.5 managers for 120 kids and 28 employees, so there is no bureaucracy,” said Quebec Public Daycare Association spokesperson Marie-Claude Lemieux.
With nowhere left to cut, Les P’tits Soleil Director Sylvette Mousset thinks daycares may be forced to replace qualified educators with untrained staff.
“It’s inevitable, we can’t do anything else,” she said.
