Free Quebec

The rallying cry for Quebec nationalists used to be "le Quebec libre!"

Now, these days more and more when people say "Quebec libre" they mean from the paternalistic policies of the state.

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Going into this business I didn't think subsidized daycare was smart and now that I'm in it, I remain unmoved from this position.

According to this site, a $7 a day care - CPE - costs the government $50 to run. That's a $43 difference! If this is not state anarchy I don't know what is. That's a massive gap to make up.

I charge $45 per day (technically and ironically, I'm cheaper than a subsidized daycare to the "greater society") and we specifically focus on early childhood education often overlooked or misimplemented - my director is a specialist on the 'Pedagogique' level). In fact, she was part of a special government task force that went in and helped troubleshoot CPE's. Lots of major challenges and failures.

While we spend a lot of time creating a child-centric program, state inspectors waste time demanding daycares they can't have Nativity scenes. Apparently, that helps in the education process. They get hung up on all sorts of confusing, technical things that deviates and distracts from the real task at hand: Serving children and their parents.

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Like anything that is publicly subsidized, it elminates choice and competition by skewing the market. Not only that, while it promised better education, it completely failed. Like they have with public education.

I am heartened (even proud) that Quebec is producing websites challenging the status-quo that has become increasingly untenable, expensive and dysfunctional. It shows we're thinking.