Poilievre says he won’t cut existing social programs such as dental care, pharmacare

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he will protect existing social programs, despite accusations from the Liberals and NDP that a victory for his party would threaten the government’s policies on dental care and pharmacare.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney has said that Mr. Poilievre would have to cut social programs in order to pay for his various campaign promises. The Conservative Leader was asked after a Tuesday campaign announcement focused on housing policy whether he would keep federal dental care and pharmacare in place.

“We will protect these programs, and no one who has them will lose them,” Mr. Poilievre said. “We will make sure that nobody loses their dental care. … On child care, we all believe that there should be more affordable child care in this country. The Liberals, though, have imposed a massive, top-down bureaucratic system.”

His answer indicated that his platform on child care will propose some changes.

“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,” he said.

The party did not provide a news release on its social policy positions. During election campaigns, political leaders tend to release specific policies individually each day before releasing them together as a full election platform package.

Prior to the start of the campaign, the Liberal government inked pharmacare deals with three provinces – British Columbia, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island – as well as Yukon for coverage for diabetes medication and supplies and contraceptives.

The government also announced last week that 4.5 million uninsured Canadians between 18 and 64 years old would join seniors, children and adults eligible for oral health care services under the Canadian Dental Care Plan.

In response to Mr. Poilievre’s remarks, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, whose party pushed in Parliament for dental care and pharmacare, told reporters in Toronto that he doesn’t believe the Conservative Leader at all, nor should anyone else.

“He voted against dental care; he voted against pharmacare,” Mr. Singh said. “He railed against them, said they were bad things, said people didn’t deserve coverage, and now we’re supposed to believe that he’s not going to cut them? No.”

On Monday, Mr. Poilievre was at a new residential development in Vaughan, Ont., north of Toronto, to announce a plan to waive the GST for homebuyers on the purchase of new homes under $1.3-million.

That is an expansion of an earlier promise made in October to apply the break to homes under $1-million, which was recently partly matched by the Liberals.

Mr. Poilievre also announced in October that he would pay for this by cutting $8-billion in existing federal housing programs, which he said were bureaucratic. He repeated that plan Tuesday.

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In a video posed Tuesday morning on social media, Mr. Poilievre said that since his October announcement, the Liberal government “pushed the benchmark price” for houses above $1-million in Toronto and Vancouver.

“There are many places where a million dollars does not get you an average home any more. It’s almost hard to believe. A million dollars used to be a castle. Today, it’s not enough to get an average home in Canada’s biggest cities,” he said.

According to the party, the GST cut will save homebuyers up to $65,000 on the purchase of an average home in Canada’s big cities, and save them roughly $3,000 every year in mortgage payments.

Just days before calling the election, Mr. Carney made a government announcement that said Ottawa would waive the GST for first-time homebuyers on homes at or under $1-million.

During his news conference, Mr. Poilievre criticized Mr. Carney’s business record on housing.

Prior to running for the Liberal leadership in January, Mr. Carney stepped down as chair of Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world’s largest investment-management companies.

Mr. Poilievre referenced a 2022 report on the “financialization of housing” by the Federal Housing Advocate that criticized Brookfield and other companies for buying up U.S. mobile-home parks and then raising rents substantially.

Mr. Carney has said he has placed his assets in a blind trust and will set up an ethics screen to avoid conflicts of interest.

Mr. Poilievre said Mr. Carney’s Brookfield ties create serious conflict-of-interest concerns. Mr. Singh also criticized the Liberal Leader’s connections with the company.

Mr. Poilievre on Tuesday also earned an endorsement from the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, a union representing 50,000 skilled and industrial workers. The union cited Mr. Poilievre’s support for the Canadian energy sector and energy independence in its endorsement letter.

At a rally in the Liberal-held riding of Hamilton East-Stoney Creek on Tuesday evening, which organizers estimated was attended by several thousand people, Mr. Poilievre touted his support for Canadian steelworkers and resource development in the face of tariff threats from the U.S. President.

”Donald Trump would like to have Mark Carney, a weak Liberal, in charge of our country,” the Conservative Leader said.

Mr. Poilievre was also introduced and endorsed at the event by Nathan Bergstrand, business manager for the United Association union local 67 of Hamilton and Niagara, which represents plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters. “Today we face an unprecedented threat to our jobs from the south,” Mr. Bergstrand said, calling Mr. Carney a “corporate sellout” who is threatening taxes on the steel industry. Mr. Bergstrand said Mr. Poilievre has been working closely with trade unions and earned his confidence with a “pro-worker” agenda.

With a report from Stephanie Levitz