(Quebec) After having given up on delivering the 2,600 4-year-old kindergarten classes on time – a flagship commitment of the CAQ for which the Prime Minister put his seat on the line in 2018 -, François Legault affirms that “to the impossible is not required” and now hopes to complete its commitment “as soon as possible.
“I want all parents to have access to 4-year-old kindergartens as soon as possible,” said the Prime Minister on his way to the Blue Room on Wednesday. “Now, as my wife often tells me: no one is obliged to do the impossible. So, we will try to do it as quickly as possible, but we must all understand that we have a shortage of teachers, ”he added.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, announced in a TVA interview that he is postponing the delivery of 2,600 4-year-old kindergarten classes to 2029-2030, that is to say to a presumed third term of Coalition avenir Quebec.
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 on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister argued that his government has no choice but to “address the reality” of labor shortages in the education sector. “There is a shortage. I am not dogmatic, I am pragmatic. So, I always intend to offer all parents who want access to 4-year-old kindergarten, ”he explained in a press scrum.
The Prime Minister repeated the same remarks in the Blue Room when he was hounded by the opposition on his decision to postpone the deadline.
“Today is an admission of failure,” said the interim leader of the Liberal Party, Marc Tanguay.
“Mr. Drainville saw the light. It’s just a shame that before him, Mr. [Jean-François] Roberge did not see it and it is especially unfortunate that at the start of all this, François Legault did not see it, ”said the parliamentary leader of Quebec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
PQ MP Pascal Bérubé recalled that the “choice of families” remains the CPEs. “The Prime Minister put his seat on the line for 4-year-old kindergarten. So is his seat in play today? It was never a good idea, 4-year-old kindergarten, ”he added.
On Wednesday, François Legault also praised the CPE model. “Parents of 4-year-old children who like the CPEs better because the CPEs are open 12 months a year, the opening hours even during the day are longer, there are also excellent educators in the CPEs. But when children have learning difficulties, 4-year-old kindergartens in a primary school where there are remedial teachers… I think it’s a good idea,” he said.
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.
With Hugo Pilon-Larose