Quebec daycare freeze threat lifted by families minister
Liberal government says it will fund daycare spots already promised for this year
Quebec's families minister has given the go-ahead to funding all daycare spots initially promised for this year.
Earlier in the week, Minister Francine Charbonneau had worried parents by saying the government would consider freezing all new subsidized daycare spots as a part of the government's austerity measures.
On Wednesday, Charbonneau changed her tune and assured Quebecers that would not be the case.
Charbonneau defended her change of mind.
"If I was backtracking, I would have announced something else. What I said is 'I'm stopping, taking a picture, analyzing, and then going ahead with what I have to do' and that's exactly what we're doing," she said.
The minister said the government has completed the necessary research, and can afford to fund all the spots promised for this year.
The previous Parti-Québécois government had promised to fund a total of 28,000 new daycare spaces.
Charbonneau could not confirm how many of those had been promised for this year.
As for the remaining spots, she said the decision would have to wait for more long-term budget talks.