Following the last elections, François Legault decided to replace Mathieu Lacombe with Suzanne Roy as Minister of Families. As the founder of the #maplaceautravail citizen movement and mother of a two-year-old boy who lost his daycare, I hoped that this change would bring a breath of fresh air. After reading the article published on January 20 in the To have toI must admit that my hope was decimated, for several reasons.
From this article, which summarizes an interview with our new Minister of Families, I make several observations. The first being that once again, we are focusing more on recruiting new educators than on retaining those who are currently keeping our network at arm’s length. It makes the proposal to settle the issue of the labor shortage by massively hiring immigrant workers who will not be starting tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, competent educators continue to drop like flies, especially in the family setting. These same educators who were refused to offer COVID bonuses, when they took the risk of welcoming many children into their homes. If you knew how many times I begged Mathieu Lacombe’s team to recognize this risk and compensate for it. She turned a deaf ear, and the record of the loss of places in the family environment speaks for itself.
We lost 24,000 places in family settings during the first term of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), nearly double the number of places it will have created if we rely on the figures obtained by The duty. However, according to Minister Suzanne Roy, it would rather be 12,000 places that would have been lost in four years. Which brings me to another observation: once again, we have a Minister of the Family who plays with the figures and who tries to camouflage this disaster without explaining to us the logic of her calculation. I remind you that the data obtained by The duty come from his ministry.
As a mother who has been following this file very closely for two years, I am outraged that the government is still trying to minimize the extent of the damage instead of looking reality in the face. The fact is that this government contradicts what its own data says, that its strategies have not worked. When that doesn’t work, I think the smart thing to do is to change our ways and help those who are paying top dollar for our mistakes.
It is in this spirit that, for the past two years, #maplaceautravail has been asking for temporary emergency assistance for parents who, without a place in daycare, cannot return to work. Having reached the end of their resources, single mothers are now turning to welfare as a last resort. Do you find that normal ? Me, I find that absurd. Once again, the CAQ refuses to help these families on the pretext of a lack of means.
However, when we can give a check for $500 to people who do not really need it, we should have the means to help families who have to forego a salary with young dependent children. This is nonsense and, once again, it is the healthy development of children that will suffer from this long-term poverty. Meanwhile, the price of formula is rising, and inflation is hitting everywhere.
Madame Roy, there is still time to change your mind. Unlike your predecessor, you seem more open to meeting the women at the head of #maplaceautravail. However, you continue to refuse their most urgent request. Your answer is blunt: there is no question of offering financial assistance to the tens of thousands of parents who pay the costs of the lack of child care spaces. Will you end up hearing them?
I continue to keep hope, even if I have the impression that it is lost in advance. I sincerely hope I am wrong. I hope you will bring the voices of parents to your colleagues and to the Prime Minister. The money, you have it. Not only did you receive $6 billion from the federal government to complete the network, but you also know that every dollar invested in early childhood is an investment. Indeed, Pierre Fortin, economist emeritus, demonstrated that, for every dollar invested in childcare services, governments collect $1.50 in tax revenue. Excuses not to work twice as hard, you don’t have any.
Finally, you say in this interview that you cannot do two things at the same time, that is to say both create places and offer temporary emergency assistance. Well, you know what, we parents do dozens of things at the same time. Spending days and nights worrying about not finding a daycare and not being able to meet the needs of our children, we would do without it.