(Quebec) “It is better to tell the truth than to bullshitter “says Bernard Drainville. Following this logic, the Minister of Education announced on Tuesday that he is pushing back to 2029-2030 – that is to say to a presumed third mandate of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) in government, if he wins the next election – reaching the target of 2,600 open 4-year-old kindergarten classes across Quebec.
Mr. Drainville’s announcement was made during an interview he gave to the TVA network. The CAQ minister justified this postponement by using the same arguments that had prompted his predecessor to slow down the pace, in the last term: scarcity of manpower among teaching staff and scarcity of spaces in schools to open these classes.
“We are at 1600 [classes de maternelles 4 ans au Québec]. The objective is 2600. About 1000 are missing. Instead of saying that we are going to create 1000 [classes] by 2025, we realize that to say that would be irresponsible. So, we are going to spread it over time, ”he justified.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Bernard Drainville
The creation of 4-year-old kindergartens is a flagship promise of the CAQ. In 2018, during the election campaign that led François Legault to become Prime Minister for the first time, he put his seat on the line by promising that he would fulfill his promise to offer 4-year-old kindergarten to all children in Quebec. .
This promise, however, evolved throughout the first mandate. It has gone from 5,000 open classes by 2023-2024 to 2,600 classes by 2025-2026. With the latest update made on Tuesday, the CAQ is reviewing this target again and now promises to achieve it four years later.
“Do you hear the beep of the truck backing up? »
Barely announced, this new setback by the Legault government in achieving its target of creating 4-year-old kindergarten classes made the opposition jump.
Quebec Liberal Party education critic Marwah Rizqy said “it was written in the sky” that Quebec would “renounce its commitment”.
In the last mandate, she lamented, the caquistes “laughed out loud when they were told that there was a lack of teachers and premises”.
PQ MP Pascal Bérubé said he did not understand “François Legault’s obsession with 4-year-old kindergartens”.
“I recall the general astonishment of the political class when he affirmed in the debate [des chefs de 2018] that he was ready to put his seat on the line for 4-year-old kindergarten. What’s up with his seat? “, he questioned with irony.
Ruba Ghazal of Québec solidaire, for her part, asked if Quebecers heard like her “the beep of the truck backing up”.
“After rebuffing the director of a school service center who had closed 4-year-old kindergarten classes for lack of staff, now the Minister of Education is making the same decision. It took more than four years for the CAQ to realize that 4-year-old kindergarten is really not a priority for our network. If Bernard Drainville really wants to avoid bullshiting Quebecers, he should give up 4-year-old kindergarten for good,” she said.