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September 16th, 2019

Justin Trudeau’s Flip Flop Shows his Child Care Promises are Empty

This morning, Justin Trudeau claimed he will invest in child care.

But just 11 days ago at the Toronto Star editorial board, Justin Trudeau dodged repeated questions from journalists on his refusal to commit to a national affordable child care program.

When asked why the Liberal government wasn’t taking action on child care, Trudeau passed the buck to provincial governments:

“We can’t take on things that fundamentally it’s been shown, can be ably led, and should be ably led by the provinces.” (Video)

This is a sharp departure from his 2015 commitment to “to deliver affordable, high-quality, flexible, and fully inclusive child care for Canadian families.”

As Child Care Now pointed out, Liberals fell far short of their 2015 promise. (1)

Even Liberal MP Wayne Long recently described child care costs as a “crisis situation” and a recent study by the Canadian Centre for Policy alternatives found that child care fees have risen faster than inflation in 61% of Canadian cities. (2)

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh:

“Families shouldn’t have to choose between having kids and having a career. Justin Trudeau said he would make child care affordable, but he broke that promise. Just a few days ago, Justin Trudeau was telling Canadians that child care was a provincial responsibility. It’s clear that people who are struggling with high child care costs can’t trust Justin Trudeau’s pretty words and empty promises.”