(Quebec) Inundated with calls from parents who cannot find child care spaces, the Liberals will vote for Family Minister Mathieu Lacombe’s Bill 1, but accuse him of missing the point with his reform to complete the network by not ensuring a right of universal access to educational childcare services.
Posted at 2:51 p.m.
What you need to know
- The Liberals will vote for Family Minister Mathieu Lacombe’s Bill 1. They urge Quebec to complete the daycare network and ensure universal access to children.
- This bill, which must be adopted in the coming days, will give additional powers to the government to complete the daycare network by 2025.
- PQ MP Véronique Hivon denounces a “great masquerade”, since Quebec includes unsubsidized private daycare centers in the calculation that defines whether a region has a deficit or a surplus of places.
- Québec solidaire reiterates that the government must financially help families who cannot find a place in daycare until it completes the network.
“I get calls from parents who say they need a place and the minister says he needs this bill to be able to develop the network. I am on the side of the parents and I will not obstruct, ”explains Liberal MP Jennifer Maccarone.
The Press revealed on Monday that Quebec will improve its “major project for families”, while the creation of 37,000 new places is no longer enough to complete the network by 2025. Faced with the acceleration of interregional migration, the government will create a few thousand additional places so that each child has access to the network once the operation is completed, promises Minister Lacombe.
Mme Maccarone demands that every child have a guaranteed right of access to educational childcare services, as is the case for schools. She is also asking Quebec to convert unsubsidized private daycares – many of which were created under a previous Liberal government – into subsidized places. The MP says her party’s position has evolved.
“I’m not embarrassed by our heritage when it comes to the child care system. […] We developed a private network because we had a strong need for places and we didn’t have six billion from the federal government for [le faire]. We need to evolve with the demand on the ground, and the demand is for subsidized places,” she said.
A “masquerade”
PQ MNA Véronique Hivon, whose party has announced that it will vote against Minister Mathieu Lacombe’s Bill 1, believes that the “major project” for families is a “masquerade”, since the government includes non-subsidized child care centers in the calculation that determines whether a region has a surplus or a deficit of places.
“There are people who don’t go back to work because they can’t find a place and others because the only place they would have is in a $70-a-day daycare center,” said Ms.me Hivon.
“It’s a big charade to continue to include non-subsidized private daycare spaces in the calculation when the minister says he wants to complete the network. Parents, for many, cannot go to these places, ”she adds. Last fall, the Parti Québécois pledged to invest $1.17 billion over five years to convert the entire daycare network into early childhood centers (CPE), according to The Canadian Press.
“Minister Lacombe makes big promises, but he constantly creates disappointments. He promises the balance in 2025, but he forgets to say that he counts the non-subsidized private places in the offer. This means that in Montreal there will be no creation of places, because this region is already in balance in the eyes of the ministry, even if a large proportion of the places offered are not subsidized”, deplores for its part the MNA for Quebec solidaire, Christine Labrie, in a written statement sent by email.
“He promises to announce additional places, but the recruitment of educators will not even allow us to offer the places already announced. These are empty promises,” she concludes.