CPE and daycare centers | Quebec creates 14,000 subsidized spaces

(Montreal) The Minister of Families, Mathieu Lacombe, announced on Sunday that he had authorized the creation of almost 14,000 new child care spaces, which should be available within two years.

This includes 8,000 places in the early childhood center (CPE) and 6,000 in subsidized daycare, he said at a press conference in Montreal.

Last October, Prime Minister François Legault had promised the addition of 37,000 places by 2025. He had specified that 20,000 of these places were already in progress. Quebec then launched a call for projects to fill the rest.

With Sunday’s additions, there is therefore a total of 34,000 places out of 37,000 that are being created.

Speed ​​race

While waiting for the new infrastructures to be put in place, the CPEs and subsidized daycare centers which have received authorization to provide these places will be able to “offer them in temporary facilities”, such as vacant premises, indicated the Minister.

He said that he had greatly reduced the bureaucratic process of requests. “Previously, it took 10 months” to approve a project, he pointed out, but “we were able to get there in a maximum of 60 days”.

“It will be possible for everyone to have access to the list of current projects,” he said, assuring that “the planned opening dates of CPEs and daycare centers” will be published on the ministry’s website. .

However, some regions are left behind, as no projects have been proposed there. This is the case, among others, for Nord-du-Québec and Haute-Gaspésie.

“We want to finance these projects,” said the minister, deploring that the law does not allow the government to carry out such projects itself. “I included this power in the bill that I tabled,” he said. Bill 1 on educational childcare services is currently being examined by the National Assembly.

Missing educators

The Centrale des unions du Québec (CSQ) welcomed the government’s announcement and its speed in processing requests, but recalled that the sector still suffers from a major shortage of personnel.

“Who will occupy these positions? asked union vice-president Line Camerlain in a press release. We are committed to maintaining the quality of the public network that parents expect. Making space announcements is one thing, but being able to service parents is another. Properly qualified educators are needed. »

Minister Lacombe estimates that “we need to hire 18,000 new educators” to meet the needs. However, he said he was certain of being able to attract female workers in the field thanks to a salary increase of up to 18% for qualified and specialized educators, as agreed in the new collective agreement signed last December.

The great place given to subsidized private daycare centers is another detail that “concerns” the CSQ.

building blocks

The director general of the Association québécoise des centers de la petite enfance, Geneviève Bélisle, added during the press conference that, thanks to an agreement with the government, CPEs will be able to build prefabricated houses.

According to her, this will allow them to speed up the process and “put the effort of several CPEs together to really develop concepts and plans”.

She announced that tenders will soon be launched for the design and manufacture of the houses.

This article was produced with the financial support of the Facebook and The Canadian Press News Fellowships.