Poilievre suggests he would 'protect' dental care, child care programs as PM

The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 25, 2025 7:42 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising a authorities led by him would maintain existing national dental-care, pharmacare and child-care coverage.

At a run halt Tuesday successful Vaughan, Ont., Poilievre was asked whether helium would chopped those programs if helium became premier minister.

"We volition support these programs and cipher who has them volition suffer them," Poilievre said, offering his astir important reply yet astir the destiny of those programs nether a Conservative government.

"We volition marque definite that cipher loses their dental care."

Poilievre stopped abbreviated of saying a Conservative authorities would grow those programs beyond the agreements already successful place.

His comments addressed a communal enactment of onslaught from Liberal Leader Mark Carney's team: that a Conservative authorities would cut societal programs, including those calved retired of the Liberal-NDP supply-and-confidence agreement.

Last year, the Opposition person questioned the effectiveness of the pharmacare and dental attraction plans, saying galore Canadians already person entree to cause sum done workplace plans that connection amended benefits.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was swift to pounce connected Poilievre changing his tune and drew attraction to the information that the Conservative person had voted against some the dental attraction and pharmacare bills.

WATCH | Singh says Poilievre is 'afraid' of losing enactment if helium openly opposes dental care: 

"You can't spot a feline that has voted against the thing, said it was a atrocious happening and past connected the eve of an election, each of a abrupt says, 'Oh no, no, nary I'm not going to chopped it," Singh said. "He's lying to you due to the fact that he's afraid."

Are expansions retired of the question?

Poilievre besides said his authorities would code the outgo and availability of kid attraction by removing bureaucracy to springiness much flexibility to families — but helium didn't explicate how.

"So portion honouring the agreements connected kid attraction with the provinces, we're going to springiness much state and flexibility to parents, providers and provinces to enactment the kid attraction of each the kids.… We should enactment each child-care options," helium said.

He said determination should beryllium much affordable kid attraction successful this country, but criticized the Liberal government's strategy for being overly bureaucratic and suggested it led to less daycare spaces.

Some parents accidental they're inactive connected waiting lists for child-care spots, and the authorities programme has faced a fig of roadblocks connected its mode to gathering its extremity of 250,000 further spots by 2026.

One of Justin Trudeau's past acts arsenic premier curate was to motion agreements extending child-care backing to the provinces until 2031.

A spokesperson for the Conservatives said successful a connection connected Tuesday that a Poilievre-led Conservative authorities "will honour existing commitments related to the dental attraction program.

"No kid volition suffer their $10/day kid care. We volition honour the deals with the provinces," the spokesperson wrote.

Those programs were planned to grow to more provinces and screen millions of much Canadians. The connection did not accidental whether a Conservative authorities would spot that through.

Health Minister Kamal Khera announced connected Saturday that Canadians aged 18 to 64 could use successful May for the nationalist dental security program.

In a quality release, Health Canada said that up to 4.5 cardinal uninsured Canadians betwixt 18 and 64 "are expected to join" the program — which already covers children, seniors and residents with valid disablement taxation credits.

To suffice for coverage, applicants indispensable beryllium Canadian residents without entree to dental security with an adjusted household nett income of little than $90,000.

The authorities has said that successful the program's archetypal year, much than 1.7 cardinal Canadians received dental attraction services.