Quebec's family minister announced this morning he'll be creating thousands of new spaces in subsidized daycares over the next two years — partly in response to the backlash against the government's plans to expand pre-kindergarten.
Mathieu Lacombe said Wednesday his government is committed to creating 2,500 new daycare spaces as quickly as possible, while making another 11,000 spaces available that had been promised by previous governments earlier in this decade, but were never actually filled, for one reason or another.
"It's my responsibility as Minister of Families to do so. It's not calculated. It's not a political game. It's only because I care about our network and I want to assure them we will be there and we will continue to invest money to create more places," Lacombe said.
Daycare operators had been suggesting the Legault government was abandoning the daycare network, by announcing their plans to shift four- and five-year-olds to classroom settings. Now, Lacombe appears to be trying to allay people's fears with the announcement.