August 28, 2003 — Le Protecteur du citoyen

Public consultation regarding child care services: Québec Ombudsman, Pauline Champoux-Lesage, requests that the government act with flexibility and take into account the size and varied needs of families.

Québec, August 28, 2003 – With respect to the public consultation concerning "development and financing proposals to ensure the longevity, accessibility and quality of child care services", the Québec Ombudsman exhorts the government to act with care. In her opinion, the debate over child care services cannot be dissociated from considerations of family issues, since the two are intricately bound by the difficult reconciliation of work and family, as well as by the wish to increase the birth rate and decrease poverty levels – child poverty in particular.

Mrs. Champoux-Lesage maintains her conviction that the continued development of our network of child care services is of great importance, yet also believes that our government must respond with enough flexibility to guarantee that the number of available spaces truly reflects individual family needs. We need only consider the current lack of space in regional daycares, unusual working hours of employed parents and children barred access to child care services due to their unique circumstances.

The Québec Ombudsman was surprised to note that of all the proposals, not a single one took family size to be a determining factor. In fact, taking family size into account would represent an additional measure taken to meet the needs of the most disadvantaged and would substantiate the government's desire to increase the birth rate.

Mrs. Champoux-Lesage was delighted to see that the government's proposals all guaranteed financial accessibility to child care services for beneficiaries of income security. However, she is concerned about those low-income families with two or three children whom she refers to as "the needy without status". Such families cannot afford to bear any increase to their daily expenses without affecting the well-being of their children. The same is true for some students, workers in precarious situations and single-parent families.

Although the Québec Ombudsman shares the government's pressing concern on the necessity of holding a public debate on the development and financing of the child care system, she regrets that the time period allotted for the consultation is so short. Falling exactly during the back-to-school rush, the ten-day period creates conditions that are neither advantageous nor beneficial for debating such a significant issue.

Jointly held by the Minister of Employment, Social Solidarity and Family Welfare and the Minister for Family Welfare, the consultation must lend itself to a broader reflection on the issue without limiting proposals to variations of the current system.

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