Early childhood education centers (CPE) fear they will become a minority in the educational childcare network if Quebec does not continue to encourage the conversion of unsubsidized daycare centers into CPEs. Of the 8,800 places that have been converted or are being converted since 2021, almost 200 are reserved for CPEs.
The Legault government committed to converting the vast majority of unsubsidized daycare centers in the province to the subsidized network just before the 2022 election campaign.
The aim is to give parents, who sometimes have to pay up to $70 per day per child or even more in unsubsidized daycare centers for lack of an alternative, better access to places at the general rate of $9.10.
The initiative aims to convert around 56,500 of the 65,000 existing places in the unsubsidized network by 2027. The cost of the operation was estimated at the time of the announcement at $1.4 billion over five years.
Open in full screen mode
Former Family Minister Mathieu Lacombe laid the foundation for the project to convert unsubsidized daycare centers. (archive photo)
Photo: The Canadian Press / Jacques Boissinot
Prior to this commitment, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) launched a pilot project in 2020 to convert 3,500 unsubsidized places. All selected places (3,549) were converted into subsidized private daycare centers.
Building on the results of this pilot, the government launched a call for projects in June last year to convert 5,000 more unsubsidized places, a first step towards fulfilling its election promise. Here too, the 5,054 selected places will become places in subsidized daycare centers and not in CPE places by March.
In total, the government has converted or approved the conversion of 8,603 unsubsidized places into subsidized places since 2021.
Wrong way
According to the Quebec Association of Early Childhood Centers (AQCPE), former Family Minister Mathieu Lacombe intended to give owners selected in project tenders the choice of converting to a subsidized daycare center or a CPE.
“It didn’t happen like that,” laments Marie-Claude Lemieux, director of public and government affairs at the AQCPE. We are aware that dissatisfaction in unsubsidized daycare centers is increasing because the promise is not being kept.
Like the 2020 pilot project, the 2023 project tender did not offer the leeway that some owners had hoped for. If you [la CAQ] presented the budget in March [dernier] To convert the 5,000 places into subsidized daycare centers, converting them into CPE was out of the question.
Open in full screen mode
Marie-Claude Lemieux regrets the government's decision.
Photo: Radio-Canada
According to Ms Lemieux, the government has not allocated the necessary amounts to advance the CPE transition, preferring to rely exclusively on the subsidized daycare model. The government assumed that unsubsidized daycare centers would not want to become nonprofit organizations. [OBNL].
Unlike subsidized daycare centers, which are private companies, CPEs actually have to reinvest the profits from their operations in services for children because they are established as NPOs. In some cases, the state also owns the building in which a CPE is located.
The contribution to the operating budget of a subsidized daycare center or a CPE is the same, explains Ms. Lemieux. The difference is that the government invests in real estate. These additional investments mean that this type of conversion can initially prove to be more expensive, admits Marie-Claude Lemieux.
The AQCPE believes that the government has taken the wrong path by largely favoring the switch to subsidized daycare. Unfortunately, we fear that we can no longer speak of a network of CPEs, as the CPEs will be in the minority in terms of the number of places.
As of November 30, CPEs in Quebec had almost 106,000 spots, or 35% of educational child care services. Funded daycare centers accounted for just over 57,000 places or 19%. Almost 65,000 places were still offered in unfunded daycare centers.
Underrated madness
The association recalls that Quebec has data that nevertheless shows an interest of unsubsidized daycare centers in becoming CPEs.
A 2022 survey conducted by the Ministry of Family Affairs of 51 unsubsidized daycare center owners who participated in the conversion pilot showed that almost a third of permit holders would have preferred to be converted to CPE rather than subsidized daycare centers. If they did this they would have a choice.
In this context, the AQCPE condemns the CAQ's course.
We somewhat question the government's decision to continue to subsidize the profits of these daycare centers, which generate much lower quality.
On the subject of quality, Ms. Lemieux again relies on data from the ministry itself.
A ministerial publication published in spring 2023 reported that 89% of CPEs since 2019 met all quality thresholds set by the ministry, compared to 64% and 53% for subsidized and unsubsidized daycare centers, respectively.
The reason CPEs generate more quality is because the goal of a CPE is not to make profits, emphasizes Marie-Claude Lemieux.
Consolation
The AQCPE put pressure on Minister Suzanne Roy. We told them that it was necessary to respect the desire of unsubsidized daycare centers to become CPEs. We hope that the government will adapt its approach given the situation.
As a consolation, Quebec launched a pilot project last year to convert 200 unsubsidized places into early childhood centers.
Even when the government did not have the budget, we showed them ways to finance the transition to CPE and despite all this, we only had 200 places in a pilot project, continues Marie-Claude Lemieux. The latter, despite all the hopes expressed to Minister Roy for the future, remains committed to the political will embodied by the pilot project.
Open in full screen mode
Quebec Family Minister Suzanne Roy (archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada
At the Minister's Office we assure you that the conversion of 200 places is just the beginning. That is the intention [de convertir d’autres places en CPE]. However, they say they will wait for the results of the pilot project.
As for the survey showing the desire of certain unsubsidized daycare centers to become CPEs, the government says it took this into account when preparing its pilot project. No further information was provided for the future.
The selected projects must be announced by the minister in the coming weeks.