Poilievre suggests he would 'protect' dental care, child care programs as PM
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising a government led by him would maintain existing federal dental-care, pharmacare and child-care coverage.
At a campaign stop Tuesday in Vaughan, Ont., Poilievre was asked whether he would cut those programs if he became prime minister.
"We will protect these programs and nobody who has them will lose them," Poilievre said, offering his most substantial answer yet about the fate of those programs under a Conservative government.
"We will make sure that nobody loses their dental care."
Poilievre stopped short of saying a Conservative government would expand those programs beyond the agreements already in place.
His comments addressed a common line of attack from Liberal Leader Mark Carney's team: that a Conservative government would cut social programs, including those born out of the Liberal-NDP supply-and-confidence agreement.
Last year, the Opposition leader questioned the effectiveness of the pharmacare and dental care plans, saying many Canadians already have access to drug coverage through workplace plans that offer better benefits.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was swift to pounce on Poilievre changing his tune and drew attention to the fact that the Conservative leader had voted against both the dental care and pharmacare bills.
Singh says Poilievre is lying about keeping dental care
4 hours ago
Duration 0:56
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh took aim at Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, saying Poilievre's comments that he would keep programs like dental care and pharmacare were lies — pointing to the Conservative leader voting against the legislation. He said Poilievre is just playing politics 'on the eve of an election.'
"You can't trust a guy that has voted against the thing, said it was a bad thing and then on the eve of an election, all of a sudden says, 'Oh no, no, no I'm not going to cut it," Singh said. "He's lying to you because he's afraid."
Are expansions out of the question?
Poilievre also said his government would address the cost and availability of child care by removing bureaucracy to give more flexibility to families — but he didn't explain how.
"So while honouring the agreements on child care with the provinces, we're going to give more freedom and flexibility to parents, providers and provinces to support the child care of all the kids.… We should support all child-care options," he said.
He said there should be more affordable child care in this country, but criticized the Liberal government's system for being overly bureaucratic and suggested it led to fewer daycare spaces.
Some parents say they're still on waiting lists for child-care spots, and the government program has faced a number of roadblocks on its way to meeting its goal of 250,000 additional spots by 2026.
One of Justin Trudeau's last acts as prime minister was to sign agreements extending child-care funding to the provinces until 2031.
A spokesperson for the Conservatives said in a statement on Tuesday that a Poilievre-led Conservative government "will honour existing commitments related to the dental care program.
"No child will lose their $10/day child care. We will honour the deals with the provinces," the spokesperson wrote.
Those programs were planned to expand to more provinces and cover millions of more Canadians. The statement did not say whether a Conservative government would see that through.
Health Minister Kamal Khera announced on Saturday that Canadians aged 18 to 64 could apply in May for the national dental insurance program.
In a news release, Health Canada said that up to 4.5 million uninsured Canadians between 18 and 64 "are expected to join" the plan — which already covers children, seniors and residents with valid disability tax credits.
To qualify for coverage, applicants must be Canadian residents without access to dental insurance with an adjusted family net income of less than $90,000.
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