The major reconfiguration of the method of allocating places in daycare will become reality in a few days with the expected adoption of Bill 1 in the National Assembly, legislation which is however far from unanimous.
The PQ opposition, fiercely against the government’s approach, will vote against its adoption.
According to the PQ spokesperson, MNA Véronique Hivon, this legislation is “a missed opportunity”, since the Minister of Families, Mathieu Lacombe, did not take advantage of the change in the law to provide Quebec with a truly complete network of educational childcare services at a reduced contribution, on the model of the program set up by the Bouchard government and Minister Pauline Marois in 1997, a program that has remained unfinished.
The daycare network is going through a major crisis, as the waiting list for a subsidized place exceeds 50,000 names and thousands of educators are missing to take care of the children.
In October, the Legault government pledged to create 37,000 new places by 2025 and the minister tabled a bill to facilitate and accelerate the allocation of these places.
Mrs. Hivon fears anarchic development of the network over the next few years. “The problem is what type of places will be offered to parents? “, she commented, worried, during an interview with The Canadian Press.
She has the impression that the government wants to proceed “to the most sacred”, to “go-as-I-push-you”, going in all directions, instead of creating only Early Childhood Centers (CPE ), recognized for their quality.
In particular, she criticizes Minister Lacombe for refusing to exclude from the calculation the 70,000 places in non-subsidized private daycares. Quebec is therefore implementing a “multi-speed” system in terms of accessibility, according to her, the daily cost of the place can be very variable.
She also criticizes him for “putting the brakes” on the project to convert non-subsidized places into subsidized places at $8.70 per day.
“We are at a critical moment for the network,” she argues, hence the importance of not developing “anything, anyhow”. The three pillars of the 1997 program were accessibility, universality and quality of service, recalls the MP for Joliette.
Ms. Hivon maintains that Minister Lacombe publicly says he wants a 100% subsidized network, while continuing “to fully recognize non-subsidized private daycares”, which therefore seek to make a profit. Paradox: some of these places remain vacant, because parents do not have the means to occupy them.
Parents’ confidence in the government on the issue of early childhood is at an all-time low, according to the MP, who maintains that in recent years Premier François Legault only had it for 4-year-old kindergarten, forgetting the daycares. It was an “obsession,” she said, saying the prime minister “went so far as to put his seat on the line” to fulfill that campaign pledge.
Until very recently, “the government had no plan that held together” to develop childcare services, adds the MP, convinced that Quebec has let the crisis take hold and worsen for three years, this crisis having culminated in the educators’ strike last fall.
In this regard, Ms. Hivon notes that, to counter the serious shortage of educators, the Minister has lowered the quality criteria, reducing from two out of three to one out of three the number of qualified educators who must be present in the facility.
Whether we like it or not, the new law 1 will modify several rules of the game.
To speed up the process, Quebec now plans to favor a continuous call for tenders, and not targeted calls, as in the past, resulting in delays that can stretch over several years.
The new law will grant more powers to the Minister, in particular to ensure better development of services at the regional level. In the absence of interest shown by the promoters in such and such a region, it will be able to create places itself in the regions where the needs are not met.
The needs assessment mechanism will be reviewed to enable the Minister to better determine the supply.
Law 1 will also create a one-stop shop, which will replace La Place 0-5, a source of frustration for parents. You will have to go through this counter to obtain a place as soon as it is operational. This will make it easier for parents to know what rank they occupy on the waiting list, which is currently practically impossible.
The rules for registering with the one-stop access to a daycare center will be formulated in such a way as to give priority to children living in underprivileged areas.
The maximum number of children accommodated per facility will increase from 80 to 100, and temporary premises may be authorized if necessary to accommodate them.
The government calculates that the cost of its “construction site” is estimated at a total of $3 billion, but in terms of the creation of the new spaces planned, we are talking more of $1.8 billion.