CAQ still far from its commitment to create 37,000 subsidized daycare spaces

Photo: Olivier Zuida Le Devoir Quebec must deliver 19,000 daycare spaces to reach its goal of 37,000 by March 31, 2025.

Patrice Bergeron – The Canadian Press in Quebec City

Published at 7:11 a.m. Updated at 9:58 a.m.

• Quebec City

The Legault government seems to be moving away from its commitment to create 37,000 subsidized daycare spaces by March of next year and thus ensure that all parents who request it have a space for their child.

According to the most recent data from the Ministry of Families, more than 5,200 children were added to the waiting list as of July 31 compared to March, for a total of 34,000, less than a year from the deadline.

However, in October 2021, the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) committed to creating 37,000 subsidized spaces by March 31, 2025, at a cost of $3 billion. Premier François Legault had even shown his impatience and eagerness at the time by suggesting that he found the deadline too far away.

The dashboard for the development of the child care network indicates that the objective of 37,000 spaces is 95.1% complete, but this is based on considering more than 19,000 spaces at the “in progress” stage—a measure that the opposition finds imprecise because it does not indicate the progress of the opening of these spaces.

There would therefore be 19,000 spaces to be delivered in less than seven months, while the monthly rate of space creation is well below the 2,700 that would be needed by then.

“We think the government will miss the target and the network will not be completed,” said the PQ critic for families, Joël Arseneau.

“The government is living in denial or, at the very least, is not telling the truth about achieving the objectives that it still believes are possible next March.”