Creation of daycare spaces | Quebec misses its target

Quebec is largely missing its own target for the creation of places in early childhood centers (CPE) and in subsidized private daycare centers in 2021-2022. And that’s not counting the many closures of family daycares, at a time when the waiting list for a place in the network is getting longer.

Hugo Pilon Larose
The Press

Tommy Chouinard
The Press

The Legault government created 3,201 places in CPEs and in subsidized daycare centers between 1^er April 2021 and March 31, reveal data obtained by The Press. During the study of the appropriations last year, the Minister of the Family, Mathieu Lacombe, had affirmed that he aimed to create “between 5000 and 7000 places”. This objective is far from being achieved.

During this same period, the network also lost 14 places in non-subsidized private daycare centers and 1,253 places in family daycare services. On the net, 1,934 places were therefore added in daycare services in 2021-2022. As for the waiting list for a place, it went from 51,073 children on December 31, 2020 to 51,761 a year later.

These data complement those sent by the Ministère de la Famille to the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) as part of the study of budget appropriations, an annual accountability exercise that begins this Tuesday, when the countdown to ‘here the end of the session has begun (see capsules).

“The minister is very good at communication, but he doesn’t learn from his mistakes. He often makes promises, but these are promises that end up broken,” laments the official opposition critic for family matters, Liberal MP Jennifer Maccarone.

“Encouraging” figures, argues Lacombe

In interview with The Pressthe Minister of Families moderates this assessment, even if he recognizes that “the target we had set has not been reached”.

“On the other hand, in the circumstances, with the last wave [pandémique] through which we have just passed, these are encouraging figures, ”he said.

Mr. Lacombe affirms that the closures of family child care centers represent quite a headache, since they undermine the number of places that are added to the net in the network of recognized child care services (i.e. CPE, subsidized and non-subsidized private daycares, as well as family settings).

“It’s been one of my nightmares since I took office. [et] it’s important for us to first slow down this haemorrhage in order to then be able to create enough places in the facility to meet the needs,” he says.

“Despite the fact that, this year, we have one of the best years in the history of the network in terms of the creation of places, we still have a challenge at the end because we have continued to lose places in the family. [Or]it’s stabilizing and next year, I think the tide will be reversed for good, ”he hopes.

Expected results

When it comes to families, the stakes are glaring. While parents are delaying their return to work for lack of a place in daycare, Quebec adopted at the beginning of the month its bill 1, which should allow Mathieu Lacombe to complete the network and ensure a place for each child in 2025. To achieve this goal, the government must create more than 37,000 new places over the next few years.

In the opinion of Liberal MP Jennifer Maccarone, the failure of Minister Mathieu Lacombe in terms of new places in 2021-2022 “creates disappointment among parents”, since the government “is not delivering results”, says- she. At the moment, several regions find themselves in shortage of places, in particular the Bas-Saint-Laurent, the Gaspésie and the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, but also municipalities on the outskirts of Montreal or large cities of Quebec.

This request, expressed among others by the organization Ma place au travail, is shared by all the opposition parties in Quebec.

Countdown to Parliament

Six weeks. That’s all the time left for parliamentary work between now and the end of the session on June 10 and the departure of the deputies on their way to the general election on October 3. Of these six weeks, two are devoted to the study of budgetary appropriations, an annual exercise during which the deputies scrutinize the expenses and the performance of the departments. One of the government’s most important pieces of legislation, Bill 96 reforming Bill 101, should be adopted in mid-May after its detailed study has just been completed. Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette will have a lot to do to complete two other files: his bill on family law and the bill improving access to justice.

Important culture bill on Wednesday

The Minister of Culture and Communications, Nathalie Roy, will table her overhaul of the laws on the status of the artist on Wednesday, an election promise that is slow to materialize. Chances are slim that the bill will pass by June 10. The parliamentary committee on culture and education, which will be responsible for studying it, already has many irons in the fire. She must examine the bill on the National Student Protector of the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, and she will have to hold consultations on another bill, recently tabled by the Minister of Higher Education. , Danielle McCann, on academic freedom in universities.

Health: parliamentary traffic jam

Files are piling up on the desk of the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé. In principle, Bill 11 aimed at increasing the supply of front-line services could be adopted soon, its examination having been completed in committee. It is to be expected that the detailed study of Bill 28 on the end of the health emergency will be long. Bill 19 on better access to health data has still not progressed since it was tabled on December 3. Finally, Minister Dubé will table by the end of the session the long-awaited bill on the expansion of medical assistance in dying, which follows the report of a cross-partisan commission. There will be no time to study it.