MONTREAL - Several hundred private daycare owners and staffers demonstrated Saturday afternoon, as they once again expressed their opposition to $15 million in cuts announced by the PQ government.
The group wore blue squares and also denounced the proposed Charter of Quebec Values, which they say will directly affect many of their workers by forbidding an estimated 150 staffers who wear Islamic veils at work, according to Sylvain Levesque, President of the Quebec Private Daycare Association.
“We're walking with the blue square because the education starts in daycare. The future of Quebec is with the children under five years old,” said Levesque.
There are 1,600 publicly funded daycares as opposed to 600 privately owned daycares.
Daycare owner Mona Lisa Borrega says the subsidies they receive don't cover the additional costs of the business, unlike the public sector.
“We are mainly fighting for equality. It's another way for the Marois government to try to private subsidized daycares,” she said.
