Red tape blamed for stunting launch of new Montreal-area daycare

A South Shore woman says bureaucratic red tape is preventing her from opening a brand-new government-subsidized daycare in an area where demand is sky-high.

“I’m discouraged at this point. It’s just been really hard,” Bianca Michetti, co-owner of BiaMel Daycares, told Global News. “These parents have to go to work. They’re losing their jobs.”

Michetti takes enormous pride in the four daycares she runs on Montreal’s South Shore, including three in Brossard. Daily, she says she sees Quebec’s daycare system failing too many parents. There is a shortage of about 50,000 daycare spots in the province.

“I say no to at least five people per day, telling them I don’t have spots. People are not even pregnant and they want to be on the list,” she said.

Michetti said some parents have resorted to sending “CVs” for their young children, trying to boost their candidacy by describing their personalities and affirming that they don’t cry much.

She claims red tape is preventing her from opening a new daycare that would be a lifeline for dozens of families.

“Parents aren’t going back to work because they don’t have a place to send their child,” she said.

Two years ago, Quebec gave her the green light to open a facility with 80 government-subsidized spots in the Chambly area, which is bursting with young families.

In spite of an extensive search, she just can’t find a suitable location for it. She says 700 people are on the waiting list, even though the new daycare doesn’t even exist yet.

“Everything that we are seeing right now is either an exorbitant amount or it’s something that the city is not allowing us to do because it’s not zoned properly,” Michetti said.

Getting a spot in a new subsidized daycare closer to their homes could allow many parents whose children attend BiaMel in Brossard to cut back on hours of commuting and put hundreds of dollars back in their pockets.

“It would save me money, save me time, save me stress,” said parent Catherine Larouche-Bilodeau.

Chambly-area resident Ana Cristea said she spends an extra 90 minutes per day driving her child to daycare in Brossard because she can’t find a space near her home.

“Whenever I go to the playground and I talk to moms, we are all suffering,” she said.

Michetti thought she had found the perfect building in an industrial zone of Chambly. Due to the industrial zoning, however, Chambly won’t allow her to bring the daycare there.

“There have been emails with Chambly, the response back was a simple, hard no,” she said.

The same building is home to a karate school, a dance school and an electronics shop. There’s also a boxing gym right next door.

“I find it a little weird, the city would tolerate a dance studio and a karate school but not a daycare,” said building owner Jacques St. Jean.

He said he’d be happy to have the daycare as a tenant, and had had mixed messages from the city about the possibility of changing the zoning.

“This is something that we would be able to turn around quickly and be able to do for January if only the city would allow it,” said Michetti.

Chambly told Global News a daycare is “absolutely incompatible” with the location.

“The City considers that the use of a daycare center is absolutely incompatible with manufacturing companies that generate strong nuisances, the circulation of heavy vehicles and the storage of hazardous materials,” city manager Jean-François Auclair said in an email, adding that two other daycare projects are in the works for 2024 to respond to the needs of the area.

The owner said he finds the area quite safe, and said he’d be happy to create a fenced-in outdoor area for the daycare children.

The city invites Michetti to meet with their planning department, which she intends to do.