Breath of fresh air
To add more than 37,000 places to the network of educational childcare services by 2025-2026, Quebec had to end – and quickly – closures in family daycares. According to the data provided by the Ministère de la Famille, the incentives put in place seem to be bearing fruit. In 2015-2016, there were 89,853 places in this category. Since then, they have continued to decline, reaching 66,338 in 2021-2022. However, in 2022-2023, this number finally rose to 69,709, up 3,371 places. The government explains this recovery because of the emergency measures that were implemented in the spring of 2021, such as an increase in compensation and new financial incentives.
Increase in subsidized places
Other positive data: Quebec announces that in 2022-2023 it has achieved the largest annual increase in subsidized places in its network since the creation of the Ministère de la Famille in 1997. Last year, 8,478 subsidized places in facilities (in CPE and in private daycares) were added, which includes the conversion of 1782 existing non-subsidized places which are now subsidized.
The bulk of the work remains to be done
Despite these encouraging figures, the challenge remains immense for the Legault government if it wishes to achieve its objective of having created 37,000 new subsidized spaces between 2021-2022 and 2025-2026. According to data from March 31, 26,931 places were in progress. Quebec had set itself the goal of achieving a place within 24 months, rather than the 48 months that were necessary before the launch of the “big project” for families, in the fall of 2021. , the average time is below 36 months. Until the network is completed, parents are still waiting for a place to become available, whether it is subsidized or not.
An ever-present deficit
This shortage of places, which has still not been corrected, is frequently decried by families who have to delay a return to work, once parental leave is over. According to the most up-to-date data, as of November 30, 29,801 children registered with the one-stop access to the network did not have a daycare space when they needed one. In addition to this number, 38,615 children born, but who did not need a place at the time the data was collected, were also registered on the waiting list. In addition, 27,708 pregnant women were pre-registered for a child care space. Remember that Quebec recently changed the way it calculates this waiting list. On average, 55,000 places become available each year in the daycare network.