WHAT THE PARTIES ARE PROMISING
Québec solidaire is vowing free education for all, from daycare all the way to a doctorate. Its other education proposals include:
Investing $1.6 billion over four
■ years to renovate school infrastructure
Spending $140 million to hire
■
2,100 new teachers
Spending $200 million to hire
■
2,300 support staff and specialists
Reducing class sizes
■
Eliminating all fees for field trips,
■ supplies and activities
Ending public subsidies for private ■ schools
The Quebec Liberal Party is pledging a free education for all four-yearolds, either in public daycares or pre-kindergarten classes. Among its other promises:
Transferring responsibility for
■ public daycares to the education ministry from the family ministry
Spending $1.1 billion to hire 5,600 ■ educational assistants, so that every pre-K and kindergarten classroom in Quebec has two instructors
More accelerated English classes
■ in Grades 5 and 6 at French schools
An additional $400 million a year, ■ for a total of $4 billion over 10 years, to renovate, expand or build schools
A gymnasium in every school and
■
60 minutes of physical activity per day
The introduction of computer coding ■ programs
Free public transit for students
■
Making enrolment in school or a
■ vocational program compulsory until age 18 Coalition Avenir Québec is promising universal pre-kindergarten classes for all four-year-olds in the province, freeing up 50,000 places in daycare. The CAQ’s other ideas are:
Eliminating school boards and
■ replacing them with regional service centres
Investing $1.2 billion a year to
■ renovate old schools or build new ones
An architecture and design competition ■ for each new school built
Systematic screening of every
■ child under five for developmental or learning difficulties
Minimum of two 20-minute recess ■ periods per day at primary-school level
Valorization of the teaching profession ■ through higher salaries and a mentorship program
Return of the universal flat rate for ■ public daycare
The Parti Québécois is proposing $39 million to provide affordable hot lunches to 250,000 schoolchildren, for between $1 and $5 a day. The PQ’s other proposals are:
Investing an additional $2.3 billion ■ to renovate schools
Creating an additional 26,800
■ subsidized public daycare spots in centres de la petite enfance to eliminate waiting lists by 2022
Legally protecting education,
■ youth and family budgets in case of an economic downturn
Mandatory term in a French CEGEP ■ for anglophone students in order to obtain DEC
Obligatory pay for internships
■