Family Minister Mathieu Lacombe announced on Sunday that he has authorized the creation of 14,000 new day care spaces, which will be available within two years.
This includes 8,000 places in child care centers (CPEs) and 6,000 places in subsidized daycare, he said at a news conference in Montreal.
Last October, Premier François Legault promised to add 37,000 more spaces by 2025. He said 20,000 of these spaces have already been completed.
Quebec has put out a call for projects to fill the rest.
With Sunday’s addition, a total of 34,000 seats out of 37,000 are being created.
Pending the new infrastructure is put into use, subsidized CPEs and daycares that have been authorized to provide these spaces will be able to “provide them in temporary facilities, such as like vacant lots,” said the minister.
Geneviève Bélisle, executive director of the Association québécoise des center de la small enfance, added that thanks to an agreement with the government, CPEs will be able to build prefabricated spaces.
This will allow them to speed up the process and “the efforts of several CPEs come together to really develop concepts and plans.”
She announced that tenders will be issued soon for the design and production of the houses.
– This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press on February 6, 2022.
