Can some explain Quebec $7.40 daycare system. Lot of questions.

[kindertime]

What happen in private (unregulated) day home in Quebec?
Is unregulated dayhome allowed?
Do parent pay all bill?
Do they get refund from government so all parent only pay $7.40 even in private dayhome?
Is number of children/ratio same?

Part Four:

I am not aware of any regulation covering private home daycares. I believe centers, be they private or public, have to follow regulations. If anyone wants to open a private home daycare in Quebec, they can. They can have up to 6 children not including their own. I have not been able to find out if there is a restriction on the number of infants.

Theoretically, these private home daycares have to follow the other laws of the province, they just don't have to follow the childcare laws. So for example, the Consumer Protection Act, I mentioned before, would still apply to them. However, because there is no oversight, and if the parents don't know the terms of their contracts may be illegal, the private home daycare could get away with a lot.

As far as what they can charge, it is like the rest of the country - you can charge whatever the market will bear. If they require parents to provide all food, well, so be it. If they want to increase their fees on a moments notice, fair enough if they can still keep their clients.

I have already explained the tax implecations of going with private daycare, and that for some famillies, it can be more advantageous. There was a story on the news a couple of months back about Revenu Quebec raiding a bunch of houses for illegal claiming of daycare fees. They didn't go into details but what I'm sure was happening was that they were either not providing daycare at all but still giving out receipts to people; or, and this is more likely, giving out receipts for amounts way higher than they were charging. So if the daycare charged $20 dollars, the parent claimed they were paying $35 dollars and got $30 back in tax credits, they would split the difference with the daycare provider. At least that's my guess.

The real situation here is kind of like what I'm hearing about from Cfred and others in Ontario. The people making decisions about how to organize a daycare system, don't actually believe daycare is a good thing. Like as if we should all go back to the 'perfect" society of the 50's where happy housewives stayed home and the kids all played on the streets. "How was your day, dear?"

My own dad, who is so in favour of the daycare system here that he thinks it should actually be free and not $7/day, is totally in support of the Ontario gov't and their handling of daycare. Because they are "just looking out for the children." I can only shake my head, 'cuz he won't listen to me anyway.

If anyone is interested, I can go into an explanation of how the union fits (or doesn't) into this picture. Otherwise, I think I've covered the basics for now. For anyone who has read my whole diatribe, thanks, and now go have a glass of wine or something, sheesh!