CPE and subsidized daycare: Creating more than 1,000 places in one year was abandoned

While the shortage of childcare places is severely affecting many families, the creation of more than 1,000 subsidized places, mostly in continuing vocational education, was abandoned last year.

This is a situation that was denounced by the Parti Québécois. “The government announces with great fanfare that we want to create venues, but at the same time, we are canceling an equal number of venues, so we are not going ahead!” denounces Rep. Joel Arsenault.

Budget appropriations documents revealed that nearly 700 approved places that were scheduled to see the light in continuing professional education programs in 2023-2024 could not ultimately be offered to children in Quebec and were “taken back” by the Ministry of Families.

This is twice the number of subsidized places that were not made available as planned in private nurseries, which “returned” 367 to the government.

In the reasons mentioned, we talk about “withdrawal” or “lack of progress on the project.” According to the Justice and Development Party MP, many professional development centers were forced to abandon the establishment of places due to the slow pace of facility construction procedures.

“With the withdrawal, what we know is that it is frustrating and a lot of bitterness to spend one, two, three years fighting against the ministry to try to make the project work,” says Joel Arsenault. It's an obstacle course! Quits are basically people dropping out of combat.

He takes as evidence the recent decision of the managers of CPE Jardin D'AMIS, who chose to return the 80 places they wanted to develop in the Rock Forest sector of Estrie in the face of administrative risks and lack of funding.

The member for Îles-de-la-Madeleine also cannot accommodate this to improve its record, and the CAQ chooses to convert private daycares into subsidized places. A strategy that contravenes the law, forcing the government to prioritize the development of places in CPE.

“We already have a two-speed system,” he said. Not only are places not being built fast enough, but the quality is deteriorating.

388 planned places not yet created in Montérégie

Many areas are affected by the loss of places, whether in continuing vocational education centers or in subsidized private nurseries. The award goes to Monteregie, which this year was due to benefit from 388 new places for local young children, which have been “returned” to Susan Roy’s ministry.

The national capital has not been left out. At least 200 new places, which were scheduled to be created in recent months, will ultimately be unavailable to children in Quebec. Montreal families will also have to do without 144 government-approved places.

At the beginning of the month, the Quebec Association of CPE denounced the fact that the government “machine” was slowing down the development of new spaces and that it was much faster for a private daycare to build a facility.

Places “recovered” by the Ministry of Family in 2023-2024

• Incidence rate: 697
• Subsidized private day care homes: 367
• Total: 1064

Source: Studies of 2024-2025 budget appropriations from the Ministry of Family