In the riding of Rimouski, families are concerned about the lack of daycare spaces during these election times. And if the needs in this area are crying out in Bas-Saint-Laurent, the educators still have to be able to find housing there, which is in the midst of a shortage.
Many parents and children stroll down rue Saint-Germain, in downtown Rimouski, on this hot summer day. Among them are Roxanne Lambert, her daughter and two sons.
Here, getting a place in child care is “a big problem,” she told the To have to. She never found a place in a CPE for her young children. “He just turned 3,” said the 38-year-old, pointing to her son, who is playing a little further away. “He was always listed in the 0-5 place and, again, I had no calls. »
Mme Lambert recounts having found in extremis a place in family daycare for her 10-month-old youngest son before he returns to work. He will go to the same place as his 3-year-old brother. “It was really stressful,” says the mother, throwing her arms up. “I wondered if I was going to have to start working weekends and evenings. »
Roxane Lambert is not the only one struggling to find an available place in CPE for her children. “For the MRC of Rimouski-Neigette, as of December 31, 2021, 550 children were waiting for a place in an educational childcare service,” said Esther Chouinard, head of media relations at the Quebec Ministry of the Family. Among these children, 125 of them are less than 9 months old.
If Mme Lambert still does not know which party will get her vote on October 3, she believes that the Parti Québécois is the political party that talks the most about the problem of daycare.
The outgoing member of the constituency, Harold LeBel, is not seeking a new mandate. First elected under the PQ banner, he was expelled from the party’s caucus in December 2020 following accusations of sexual assault; he is awaiting trial.
“Still work to do”
At his election booth on rue Saint-Germain, the PQ candidate, Samuel Ouellet, highlights the “achievements” of the last term on the issue of daycare. “But there is still work to be done, and we intend to be in the ranks to continue to have results”, specifies the former political attaché of Mr. LeBel under the curious gaze of passers-by.
Since the start of the campaign, the PQ has made a particular commitment to converting all private daycare centers in Quebec into childcare centres, with the exception of family childcare services. The party has also promised to create 15,000 new places across Quebec during a first mandate.
A few steps from Mr. Ouellet’s kiosk, Marie-Alice Audet-Casgrain hurries to take shelter from the impending storm with her two children. “My son, he is 7 years old and he has never been [en CPE] “, she tells the To have to.
The young woman, who has been living in Rimouski for 8 years, has however found a place in the Quebec childcare network for her 4-year-old daughter. Much to her relief, she says, because her last return to work had been difficult: she had to send her son to an “inadequate” family daycare. During the pandemic, several people “who had never done that” opened daycare centers, underlines the young mother.
For the Liberal candidate in Rimouski, Claude Laroche, the lack of daycare spaces in the Bas-Saint-Laurent is obvious. “At the PLQ, we have done our classes and we promise a place in daycare, whether in CPE or others, at $ 8.70 per day for parents”, he underlines. His party also intends to extend parental leave by 6 months for those who are unable to find a place for their child.
A step “in the right direction”
As of July 31, 332 places in CPEs and subsidized daycare centers were being created in the MRC of Rimouski-Neigette for 2022-2023, according to the Ministry of the Family. In Pointe-au-Père, about ten kilometers from downtown Rimouski, a CPE intended to accommodate 60 toddlers is also under construction.
According to the CAQ candidate, Maïté Blanchette Vézina, met at the Rimouski marina, the Coalition avenir Québec has thus “responded” to the frustrations that have existed for several years. “We consider that, by 2024, we should have reached the accessibility threshold for families,” adds the 36-year-old mother. If she is returned to power, her political party promises to inject $1.4 billion over five years to convert all non-subsidized daycare spaces in Quebec into subsidized spaces.
According to the mayor of Rimouski, Guy Caron, the places already being created are a step “in the right direction”. But his city is growing rapidly, he points out, and while new child care spaces have indeed been allocated, the problem is mainly due to the shortage of manpower, in his opinion.
And to accommodate these new educators, “we will have to increase the number of accommodation,” he notes: it’s a vicious circle. According to the elected municipal official, this is also the biggest problem in Rimouski, where the vacancy rate is estimated at 0.2%.
In early August, the number of families on the waiting list for social or affordable housing fluctuated between 350 and 400, said Mayor Caron. What does he expect from the different parties in this electoral campaign? “An important and massive helping hand for housing,” he summarizes.
Attract families
Met at the St. Laurent Distillery, in Pointe-au-Père, the solidarity candidate, Carol-Ann Kack, stresses that access to housing and daycare centers is crucial to attracting and keeping families in the region. “Families tell me: ‘We’re wondering if we want another child because it’s been such a headache to find daycare…'”, says the 32-year-old young woman while drinking a kombucha.
To financially assist new parents in Quebec who are unable to return to work due to a lack of childcare space, Québec solidaire is committed to offering a “baby benefit” of $870 per month. This measure aims to offset the loss of income of families who have exhausted their benefits from the Québec Parental Insurance Plan. In a possible first term, QS is committed to creating 37,000 new child care spaces across Quebec. Of the number, some would be in “micro-CPE” of 8 to 20 places, especially in remote areas.
For its part, if elected, the Conservative Party of Quebec would gradually eliminate public funding for CPEs and daycare centers and would instead allocate to Quebec parents daycare vouchers of $200 per week per child. The family allowance program would be preserved and increased each year according to the cost of living and inflation.