Quebec’s Minister of Families, Mathieu Lacombe, assures that no break in service will affect early childhood centers (CPEs) that have received eviction notices, in recent weeks, from the Center de services scolaire of Montreal (CSSDM ).
We will make sure there are no service breaksdeclared by the Minister in the corridors of the National Assembly in response to the alarm cry launched by CPEs who are in such a situation.
This is particularly the case of the CPE Idée fixe, which has been housed since 1979 in a building adjacent to the École Garneau, in the Center-Sud district of Montreal. This is also the case of CPE Alexis-Le Trotteur, in Plateau-Mont-Royal.
The Quebec Minister of Families confirms that the areas occupied by some CPEs are dilapidated and in need of renovations. For those, he predicts, it means a move, may be temporary, may be permanent.
The ministry wants them [les enfants] can stay where the CPEs are, says Mathieu Lacombe. But it won’t be possible for all CPEs, he warns.
” We’re talking dilapidated areas, so there will be a move that will be needed […] and, as close as possible. “
Large rent increase
From 2017-2018, approximately twenty CPEs renting space in former CSSDM schools received rent increases worth, in some cases, up to 500%.
The imposition on CPE Idée fixe, for example, is 360%.
CSSDM notably urges the need to renovate schools to justify these increases.
” The impression I have is that mercenaries are directly hired at CSSDM to do the “arm work”, to kick people out. “
On Wednesday, Minister Lacombe refused to qualify these increases as disproportionate.
The problem itself is not the rent increase, because the Center de services scolaire de Montréal has adjusted to the market, Mathieu Lacombe said. There will be a problem if we, the Ministère de la Famille, do not adjust the funding.
gold, we fix ithe said.
Indecent namansaid the director of the Association of CPE executives, Élyse Lebeau, about these rent increases.
In an interview Wednesday with ICI RDI, Ms. That Lebeau they are public funds managed by everyone, from the Ministère de l’Éducation to school boards and the Ministère de la Famille.
Can we agree on reasonable rental costs? he protested.
The situation of CPEs is becoming more unsustainable, according to him. We have chosen, as a society, CPE as a model of social economy, so now, public administrations must be able to dialogue.
Family child care centers
On the side of educational services in the family environment, concern also reigns: the Federation of Early Childhood Workers of Quebec (FIPEQ-CSQ) counted 35 of these services as threatened by the dismissal of their respective owner.
According to Valérie Grenon, president of FIPEQ-CSQ, nearly 200 children are at risk of losing service on July 1. And this, while more than 50,000 children are on the waiting list for the province’s only access point, he recalled.
In a letter sent on May 12 to Andrée Laforest, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Ms. Grenon and owners use sham to squeeze CSRs [responsables en services éducatifs en milieu familial] so that they can more easily increase the price of their accommodation.
Some owners have claimed, erroneously, that an educational service in a family environment should be set up in a commercial space, rewritten Valérie Grenon. Others complain about the noise and nuisance caused by these educational services. Finally, others are classic cases of “renoviction”according to Ms. Grenon.
” […] one direction your government should need to take for a moratorium on dismissals in home environment educational services […]. “
The Legault government was arrested
The National Assembly unanimously adopted on Wednesday a motion calling on the government of François Legault to support the CPEs in their steps to prevent dismissal or, if necessary, that it funded their move to nearby, as soon as possible.
Presented by the House Leader of the Second Opposition Group, Solidarity MNA Christine Labrie, the motion also asks the Legault government to commit to ensuring that there is no disruption to the service caused by the relocation.
While promising that no break in service would compromise the operation of CPEs, Minister Lacombe said he found still sad that parents are in a certain state of alert, right now.
Information from Julie Marceau and Karine Bastien
Source: Radio-Canada
