EXCERPTS
The money will go to finance 133 projects across the province, with a maximum amount of $25,000 per project, and will help daycare centres create periodic portraits of their children and improve training among educators/operators.
Speaking to reporters Monday in Montreal, Family Minister Mathieu Lacombe said although the government is hoping to put in place a pre-kindergarten program for four-year-olds, it also wants to “leave the choice up to parents.”
While critics have said the government’s attention seems to be more focused on pre-kindergarten for four-year-olds, Lacombe pointed out that his ministry has actually raised the global budget for daycare centres by 6.3 per cent, which has allowed for the addition of 13,500 spaces in the network.
“We will continue to invest in daycare services,” he said. “When you see the investment we’re making at this moment in home-based daycares, it shows that we want them to be complementary networks.”
In total, 42,000 children are on waiting lists to get into daycares, Lacombe said.