Quebec is converting 5,000 unsubsidized daycare spaces into subsidized spaces

Finance Minister Eric Girard announces the conversion of 5,000 unsubsidized daycare spaces into subsidized spaces at $9.65 per day.

This measure will be included in Quebec’s 2026-2027 budget, which the minister will present this Wednesday in Quebec City. Its cost is estimated at $400 million over five years. 

Due to the deficit, Girard promised, in a press scrum on Tuesday, a “responsible” and “moderate” budget, with a few “targeted measures”.

“The context is difficult in terms of the cost of living, (…) so this is a measure for families, to help them,” he told reporters, saying he was also targeting homelessness and domestic violence. 

Since 2021, the CAQ government will have funded “60,000 subsidized daycare spaces, a major achievement,” the minister said.

Girard also announced on Tuesday a donation of $10,000 to the organizations Centre famille Haute-Ville in Quebec City and Maison des Grands-Parents de Villeray in Montreal. 

When reporters asked him if he planned to help motorists, Girard replied without hesitation: “No.” He explained that it is not yet known whether the surge in gasoline prices will be “temporary” or “persistent.” 

The two candidates for the CAQ leadership, Christine Fréchette and Bernard Drainville, have both pledged to put money back in the pockets of motorists.

The new CAQ leader, who will become de facto premier, will be elected on April 12.

Of note: the finance minister revealed on Tuesday that he has set aside an “envelope” to give the next prime minister the necessary leeway to make “announcements”.

He did not specify the amount of this sum.

“In every budget, there are provisions for contingencies, and here we have planned for the possibility of a new leader and new measures that will be announced,” he said, limiting himself to saying.

Last fall, Quebec’s deficit was estimated at $12.4 billion, but Premier François Legault promised Tuesday that the 2026-2027 budget would contain “good news on the plan to return to a balanced budget.” 

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews