Daycares: unanimous plea for conversions, Minister Lacombe impassive

The Minister of Families is accused by his political opponents of missing a critical window in the file of conversions of non-subsidized private daycare centers to the subsidized network, a measure provided for in his Large project for families.

The Liberals, the PQ and the Solidarity see it as an obvious solution to quickly restore fairness between parents, some of whom pay up to $65 a day for a place in unsubsidized daycare.

Despite the pressures of the last few months, Mathieu Lacombe does not budge: we must wait for the end of the pilot project, launched in the fall of 2020, before thinking about expanding the conversion.

And there are still steps to take.

The projects selected for the second phase of the project aimed at converting a total of 3,500 places, or 5% of the non-subsidized network, will not be announced until next June. The final report will not be completed until all the places allocated under the pilot project have been converted.

The minister meanwhile promises an extended conversion plan and a timetable between now and the elections next fall. He intends to launch a project in collaboration with the associations of non-subsidized daycare centers to establish the conversion criteria, in particular.

Nothing concrete has yet been announced and no budget has yet been allocated for the conversions.

Strong demand

Meanwhile, demand far exceeds supply.

According to data from the Ministère de la Famille, the government received 269 files across Quebec during the first phase of the pilot project. This represents a potential of more than 15,000 places to be converted at the single rate of $8.70.

Of the number, only 25 were selected for a total of 1767 places. This means that 244 projects and 13,856 places were rejected.

For the second phase, 238 non-subsidised establishments applied before the November deadline, while 1,733 places are available.

This demand arose despite the fact that eligibility criteria immediately disqualified certain daycares. Any establishment less than five years old, for example, did not have access to conversion under the pilot project.

“Nonsense”

Non-subsidized private daycares accounted for 68,000 places under permit as of December 31, 2021. They are recognized by the Ministère de la Famille and must meet the same legal requirements as subsidized daycares or CPEEarly childhood Center.

In this context, Jennifer Maccarone, Liberal Critic for Families, finds it hard to understand the government’s hesitation to convert more quickly. If Quebec City’s objective is to guarantee a place at $8.70 to all Quebec parents, it just makes sense to put effort towards conversionshe said in an interview with Radio-Canada.

According to the echoes she gets, the situation is really critical on the pitch. Some daycares, she says, are struggling to break even. Several places authorized by the ministry are vacant – some 19,000 places in total in Quebec – because parents cannot pay the bill, according to Ms. Maccarone, or because of a lack of staff. [Les garderies] raise their hands, they say “help”.

” It is a waste. There are already facilities, there are already toddlers, already educators. It’s nonsense. It’s a decision that should be easy, but it sure ain’t like cutting a ribbon [d’un nouveau CPE]. »

According to the Member for Westmount–Saint-Louis, Minister Lacombe is holding contradictory speeches.

On the one hand, she says, he wants to offer universal access to all Quebecers to a subsidized place by 2025, but on the other he refused to embed the conversion parameters in Bill 1, recently adopted by the government.

Ms. Maccarone adds that in addition to not moving any faster with the conversions, the Minister has fallen behind on his objectives for the creation of new places in subsidized child care and CPEEarly childhood Center. Mr Lacombe admitted the backlog this week and promised to create 10,000 new places this year to catch up with his targets.

The Liberal MP no longer dares to believe it and is waiting to see the results. He’s a good communicator but he doesn’t deliver the goods. At the National Assembly on Wednesday, Mathieu Lacombe retorted that he had inherited a network undermined by the Liberals, who favored the development of private daycare centers to the detriment of CPEEarly childhood Center.

The minister says he is in the process of correcting the situation and repeats that his government is doing more than its predecessors, in particular the Liberals.

Expressway

Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois, each in their own way, are asking Mathieu Lacombe to create a fast track to the conversion of unsubsidized daycare centers that are already raising their hands to do so. Both parties are campaigning for conversions to CPEEarly childhood Centerand not in subsidized child care.

There are no profits to be made with the Childhood Education Networklaunches Christine Labrie, Solidarity MP for Sherbrooke, recalling that the CPEEarly childhood Center are non-profit organizations.

” Regardless of the cost of offering a place in a CPE to each child, it is the best social investment we can make. It allows children to have access to quality educational services. »

She says the minister has a responsibility to help conversion-ready unsubsidized daycares achieve their goal. As for the quality control often mentioned by the minister to explain the slowness of the conversion process, Christine Labrie does not adhere to it completely.

The minister does not want to find himself in the Montreal Journal because he converted midfielders that weren’t of good quality. I understand that, but the vast majority are of good quality, and if they are not, he should have them shut down if he fears it would be odious to convert them.

Waiting for the end of the pilot project is too great a risk for her, considering that some managers of non-subsidized daycares are considering closing down.

Faced with the long conversion times, the MNA mentions a roundabout way de Québec aimed at recovering unsubsidized spaces without having to go through the conversion process. [Le ministre] knows that some of these communities are in a precarious financial situation.

His main fear is to witness the exodus of staff already established in these daycare settings. It will cost less [au gouvernement] to wait for them to close on their own and to take over the places, but in the process we lose experienced staff, premises, managersaffirms the united deputy.

Ms. Labrie also pleads for the conversion into CPEEarly childhood Center in order to provide fairer treatment to parents whose children live with a disability. Unsubsidized daycare centers do not receive money from the state to meet the special needs of these children, she laments, seeing it as a form of discrimination in regions where the places in CPEEarly childhood Center are in short supply.

Unsustainable system

PQ Véronique Hivon accuses the Legault government for her part to indulge in a multi-speed system.

If it concedes to Minister Lacombe to have inherited years [Tony] Tomasi and anarchic development [des garderies non subventionnées]without cohesion with the rest of the development of the network he now has the responsibility to put an end to it.

Ms. Hivon denounces the slowness of Quebec to tackle it. It’s amazing, now is the time to do itshe says of the massive conversions. It is time to get on this battle horse and for the government to provide a clear alignment.

In his view, the government chose instead to pushing the problem forward by improving the tax credit paid to parents.

However, this $221 million measure, announced last fall, has, according to her, crystallized the system that she considers unfair for families. She laments zero effect since the money, which was supposed to reduce the difference in prices between parents, instead allowed non-subsidized daycares to raise their pricesto remain competitive and attract educators.

Like Christine Labrie, Ms. Hivon raises contradictions regarding the quality issues advocated by Minister Lacombe. If that’s his argument, he should hasten to unify the networkshe shoots. He speaks out of both sides of his mouth. He says, “I’m not sure enough of the quality to be able to embark on a massive conversion program.” So how is it that he accepts that these places continue to exist?

According to the member for Joliette, the conversion would allow the accompaniment daycare centers and their managers, and therefore better quality control.

Mathieu Lacombe’s firm declined our interview request.