The problems are piling up in the network of early childhood centres (CPEs). According to information from Radio-Canada, one in two CPEs posted a deficit last year, while this was the case for less than a third just three years ago. This chasm has multiple explanations: rising maintenance costs, inflation in the cost of food, labour shortages and the use of placement agencies.
The CPEs, a jewel in the crown of early childhood support, are bearing the brunt of the Legault government’s indifference, which has a weakness for 4-year-old kindergartens. This project is not complementary to the CPEs; rather, it represents their competitor in a labour pool under pressure. As proof, according to data compiled by Radio-Canada, labour replacement costs account for 30% to 50% of CPE deficits. Some managers have gone as far as spending half a million dollars a year on replacement educators.
The network of 4-year-old kindergartens is not the only factor destabilizing CPEs, of course. Enrollment in early childhood education techniques has been falling for several years, while the number of CPE places has increased. The general management of CPEs does not all have the same management skills. And the shortage of staff is affecting education everywhere, a long-neglected sector that will not become attractive again anytime soon, despite the government’s recent efforts to make it a national priority.
We only need to look at the health sector to be convinced that using placement agencies does not solve labour problems. It only increases dependence on this type of service, in addition to increasing costs and the risks of collusion between service providers. In the long term, weaning is difficult — if not impossible, as evidenced by the recent backtracking by Health Minister Christian Dubé. Even though he is determined to eliminate the use of private agencies in the health network, he is forced to postpone the deadline.
While the government is trying to rectify the health situation, it is letting the “poison” of placement agencies do its harmful work in early childhood centers. The Ministry of the Family subsidizes CPEs according to the salaries of the educators, at a lower hourly rate compared to the scales of the agencies.
The rest of this painfully boring film is rather predictable. The deficit of the CPEs is set to widen as the agencies become indispensable to their operation. The Ministry of the Family will be under pressure to increase funding for the network and will in turn send the CPEs back to a responsible use of public funds, even if it means reducing the provision of services. A secondary character may mention the possibility of increasing the parental contribution before being rebuked by both the apostles of universal services and the detractors of the welfare state.
There is also hope for a happier ending. Families Minister Suzanne Roy has announced temporary measures to ease the pressure. CPEs in chronic deficit will be able to obtain professional consultation services for recovery (a desirable measure to increase budgetary rigour where it is lacking), as well as a maximum allocation of $10,000 per space, up to a maximum of $500,000 per facility.
The CPE deficit may be a cyclical phenomenon, which will resolve itself with the return of controlled inflation. Discussions between the Ministry of the Family and the Quebec CPE Association should also make it possible to find lasting solutions for financing early childhood services.
It is necessary, because we cannot accept that the CPE network continues its slide, at the risk of one day catching up with public schools in the category of disasters that we passively observe, like a social accident in slow motion. What will remain of the quality of services? Of the commitment of educators? Of the attachment of toddlers tossed from one adult to another at the whim of staff turnover? The period from zero to five years is without a doubt the most important in the development and attachment of the child. Our duty of assistance and vigilance could not be more important than in CPEs.
At the microphone of All one morningformer PQ minister Véronique Hivon found the right words to describe the conduct of the Legault government in the CPE and CEGEP files, which were ordered to cut short their development or renovation projects at the last minute. This is a government “chronically lacking in predictability and reflection.”
Childcare educators are threatening to walk out this fall in order to speed up negotiations on the renewal of their collective agreements that expired nearly 18 months ago. This is an opportunity for the Legault government to demonstrate vision by revaluing the profession and showing the importance it places on CPEs in early childhood development.