Well, well, thank you to the others who are there, Marwah Rizqy continued in surprise as the Minister of Education loudly exited the Blue Room, loudly railing against the Saint-Laurent member he called a demagogue.
We’re talking about accountability. It seems to me that we can also say that there is indeed a government that has made a change in school governance, she continued.
The Liberal spokesman then questioned the minister about his responsibility for the decision by the Center de services scolaire des Mille-Îles (CSSMI) to drastically increase its childcare rates from the next school year, but also to merge administration, which would require hiring an additional 300 Educators amidst staff shortages.
Parents are being warned these days that children may be sent home at midday.
Liberal MP for Saint-Laurent, Marwah Rizqy (archive photo)
Photo: Radio Canada / Sylvain Roy Roussel
Imagine those little pieces of cabbage there returning home. Madam President, we are no longer in an era where we women stayed at home and then waited for our children, Mrs Rizqy argued.
Marwah Rizqy also criticized the education minister for defending the third link between Quebec and Lévis more vigorously than files like those of the CSSMI’s parents. The minister had more verb and strength to defend the third rank than [pour défendre] Parents who have to pay exorbitant fees, she said.
As an example, the member for Saint-Laurent on Thursday cited the fees imposed on the Arthur-Vaillancourt primary school. The lunchtime care rate at this music school will increase from approximately $240 to $630 per child per year. The elimination of the family package (which is in addition to the general increase) increases the bill for a family with four children from $460 to $2,520 per year. A costs five times higher.
Can we have an education minister who won’t say, ‘Let’s drop the greenhouse gases’, but ‘Let’s drop the fees’? quipped Marwah Rizqy, who believes the CSSMI’s parents feel betrayed, a bit like the citizens of Lévis, to whom the Legault government had promised that the third link would be a motorway.
Drainville defends the CSSMI
The education minister again apologized to the offended citizens of Lévis, but justified the school service center’s decision with the extent of the staff shortage in the network. The challenge of labor shortages forces us to take exceptional measures, stressed Bernard Drainville.
We find ourselves with a shortage of educators, forcing school service centers to find ways to ensure we both maintain our services […] and punish parents as little as possible, he added.
Remember that in this case, the CSSMI warned the parents of possible service disruptions at the beginning of the school year. The school service center even offers to accompany their children in courses on being alone.
The CSSMI Parents’ Council, supported by the Federation of Parents’ Committees of Quebec (FCPQ), has also criticized the CSSMI for creating its own staff shortages.
According to the education minister, the school service center is as responsible for its decisions as the parents who sit on its board.
They have an outlet, these parents, to act, Bernard Drainville hinted. It’s up to the directors, directors [des centres de services scolaires]to eventually come and explain the choices they make, he added.
It should be noted that in this file both the CSSMI Parents’ Committee and the FCPQ denounce a lack of transparency on the part of the School Service Center in communicating information to parents.
While Minister Drainville was no longer present in the room, the Liberal spokesman argued that in Quebec the vote must be based on free and informed consent.
How can a board that receives a document that is not very clear say that they voted clearly and unequivocally? she concluded.