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September 30th, 2019

Liberal Platform Fails On Child Care

NDP commits to 500,000 more affordable spaces

VANCOUVER – Today, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh committed to delivering universal child care by 2030 and underscored the broken promises by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals that have failed everyday families.

“Yesterday we saw more empty Liberal promises. Justin Trudeau is walking away from families who urgently need help and telling them they need to settle for less,” said Singh. “Four years after Justin Trudeau promised high-quality affordable child care for ‘all families that need it’ – there aren’t any child care spaces for three quarters of kids under six. This is wrong.”

A New Democrat government will establish a universal child care and early learning system by 2030, beginning with a $10 billion investment over four years to create more than 500,000 new licensed child care spaces in partnership with provinces, territories and Indigenous governments. Parents in British Columbia have called the provincial NDP government’s $10 a day child care pilot program ‘life changing’. Our commitment will build on this success.

The NDP will bring in legislation to enshrine our commitment to quality, affordable publicly funded child care, to set up a national child care secretariat to oversee the coordination of the work, and to collaborate with the provinces and territories on initiatives such as a workforce strategy and improved data sharing and research.

“Liberals promised child care twenty-six years ago. The children who were born the year the Liberals first promised a national child care plan are now looking for child care for their own kids!" said Singh. "You can’t be a feminist if you fail to deliver on child care – period. New Democrats will fight for affordable child care for families."

The pledge is part of the NDP’s New Deal for Peoplethat makes life better, with affordable homes, universal prescription drug coverage and dental insurance to give immediate help to Canadian families.