Some Quebec parents like paying more for day care

A group of Quebec parents plans to fight a new regulation that will prevent any government-subsidized day-care centre from charging more than $7 a day.

The regulation was proposed after it was discovered that some centres were charging extra fees to fund extra services.

The new rulewill come into effect at the end of August, and will affect about 1,500 day-care centres providing nearly 197,000 spots in public, family and private settings.

The president of the Quebec Association of Day Cares, Sylvain Levesque, said Monday parents in his day-care centre are angry because they say it is their choice to use his day-care centre because it has "a better program."

Levesque said private day-care centres will not survive without charging more than the government-regulated $7 a day.

"[Parents] say it's our choice to pay a little bit more. It gives a big hand to the parents when you have swimming lessons, when you have music, when you have dance at the day care," he said.

"So, since I cannot charge $4 more [than the regulated $7] in September, I will make a deficit this year of $80,000. So I think it's really unfair," Levesque said.

"It should be our choice if we want to pay extra and get extra services," Julie Sossanpour told the Canadian Press. She pays $11 a day to ensure her son Noah has a day packed with extra activities such as the dance and music he loves.

The 38-year-old Montreal mother said she's prepared to protest, sign petitions and do anything legal to preserve the superior care provided.

"I think everything was so good the way it was. [The government] is messing with a good thing."

The province spends $1.6 billion a year for its day-care system, including daily subsidies ranging from $30to $50 per child. Parents top that off with a $7-a-day contribution.

Family Minister Carole Theberge insists that the total funding available to day cares is sufficient to provide a quality service to Quebec's children.

"They have all the money they need to absorb the costs of running a day care for children zero to four years old, and meet all the educational requirements and social development of the children," she told the Canadian Press.

Theberge said the new regulations were designed, among other things, to ensure the universality of Quebec's day-care system.

The government also wanted to end abuses, where some operators had begun to charge for stroller storage, waiting lists, diaper changes, and dressing youngsters.

"We want to ensure that parents really have a choice at $7, and that it's not $7 plus more and more."

About 30 day-care centres that receive no government support won't be affected by the changes. But those who receive subsidies fear they will be forced to lay off staff, reduce the quality of meals or cut elsewhere if they can't charge more than the minimum.

"We don't want to go on strike," said Levesque.

"We don't want to take parents as hostages, but we will have to reduce services for sure."