Poilievre promises to maintain federal dental care and child care programs

VAUGHAN, Ont. – Pierre Poilievre is pledging that if his Conservative party forms government in this election, it will keep a number of popular social programs the Liberal government created with the help of the NDP.

At a campaign stop Tuesday in Vaughan, Ont., Poilievre was asked whether he would cut the national dental-care and pharmacare programs — something that’s been a popular point of attack among his opponents.

“We will protect these programs and nobody who has them will lose them,” Poilievre said. “We will make sure that nobody loses their dental care.”

He did not specify what he would do with the pharmacare program, which he has said previously he would end.

That program currently covers the cost of birth control and diabetes medication in three provinces that have signed deals with Ottawa. Legislation that Poilievre opposed in Parliament calls for deals to be signed with all provinces and territories, and for an expert report on how to create a universal pharmacare program.

The Canadian Dental Care Plan was launched by the Liberal government in 2023. It came as a result of a deal with the NDP, which pushed for dental care, pharmacare and anti-scab legislation in exchange for keeping the minority government in power.

The dental-care program is currently available to seniors, children and adults with a disability so long as they don’t have private insurance and have a household income under $90,000.

The government has said that in the program’s first year, more than 1.7 million Canadians received dental-care services.

On the eve of the election call, the Liberal government announced a major expansion to the dental-care plan to cover all eligible Canadians between the ages of 18 and 65 beginning in May.

The Conservatives said in a statement on Tuesday that they would honour existing commitments related to the dental-care program. A spokesperson also said no child would lose access to $10-a-day child care under a Conservative government and it would honour the agreements with provinces.

Ottawa has signed multiple deals with provincial governments over the last several weeks to extend child-care funding to 2031.

Poilievre said his government would address the cost and availability of child care by eliminating bureaucracy to give provinces and families more flexibility — but he didn’t explain how.

“We all believe there should be more affordable child care in this country,” Poilievre said, claiming Liberal policies have led to fewer child-care spaces.

“Why do we have worse child care today than when the Liberals took office? Because they’ve imposed top-down, government-knows-best rules that have shut down private daycares that don’t meet the government-knows-best model.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he doesn’t believe Poilievre, pointing out that he and his Conservative caucus voted against dental care and pharmacare in the House of Commons.

“What I think it says is that Pierre Poilievre realizes people actually like dental care, people actually think that pharmacare is a good idea,” Singh said at a campaign stop in Toronto.

“People like these programs, and so he’s worried that if he comes out and says openly he’s going to cut them, people won’t actually like that, they’ll actually vote against him. So he’s lying to you now.”

For the second day in a row, Poilievre was forced to go on the defensive on Tuesday.

Citing an unnamed CSIS source, the Globe and Mail reported Tuesday morning that agents of India allegedly interfered in Poilievre’s victorious 2022 Conservative leadership campaign.

“Let’s be honest. I won the leadership fair and square,” Poilievre said when asked to respond to the report, claiming it was a part of a Liberal attack.

The Globe and Mail reported CSIS did not have evidence to suggest that Poilievre or his team were aware of the alleged interference and said CSIS did not share the information with Poilievre because he does not have a top-secret security clearance.

“What I will not do is commit to the oath of secrecy that the Liberals want to impose on me,” Poilievre said when asked about his decision not to obtain a security clearance.

At a press conference in Halifax, Liberal Leader Mark Carney called Poilievre’s decision not to get a security clearance “beyond baffling.”

“I find it downright irresponsible that the leader of the opposition, day after day, month after month, year after year, refuses to obtain his security clearance as a normal course in peace time, when times were tranquil,” Carney said.

“That’s unacceptable then. But at this point in our history, when we face the greatest threats that we’ve faced in generations, in most of our lifetimes, he has to answer for that.”

Poilievre was at a housing development in Vaughan on Tuesday, where he pledged to remove the GST from purchases of new homes worth up to $1.3 million — a measure he said would save homebuyers up to $65,000.

That expands on a plan the Conservatives proposed in October to eliminate the GST on new homes sold for under $1 million.

Houses in the area where Poilievre held his news conference are listed for — and have previously sold for — more than $2 million, according to online real estate data.

Conservatives estimate the tax cut would cost the government between $3.96 and $4.97 billion, but they believe it would also stimulate the construction of 36,000 homes per year and say that would generate $2.52 billion in revenue.

The Conservatives say they would cancel “$8 billion in failed bureaucratic programs.” They say there is $2 billion unspent in the Housing Accelerator Fund and they argue the $5-billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund — launched last spring with a January deadline to sign funding agreements with provinces — has not resulted in homes being built.

The Conservatives also say they plan to incentivize municipalities to free up land, speed up permits and cut development charges to build more homes.

The cost of housing is a key issue for many in the federal election campaign.

Poilievre’s move to sweeten his housing promise comes a few days after Carney said his government would also eliminate the GST for first-time homebuyers on homes at or under $1 million.

— With files from Nick Murray in Ottawa.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2025.