REALITY CHECK: Child care delivery needs hard work not an election

The Liberals have been promising child care since 1993 and never delivered under any of their majority or minority governments since.

Today they’re back at it with the promise of childcare in one hand and the threat of an election in the other.

Yes, Justin Trudeau is in British Columbia with a promise to invest. Frankly, the only reason Trudeau can make this announcement today is because of the hard work and willing partner of the BC NDP government.

But is he really serious? If he was, he wouldn’t be so thirsty for a campaign

Budget 2022 specifically stated that there would be “a 50 per cent reduction in average fees for regulated early learning and child care in all provinces outside of Quebec, to be delivered before or by the end of 2022”. Simply put, Trudeau has no time to waste on an unnecessary election campaign nobody wants but him.

Moreover, according to the Department of Finance projections, a national child care program based on the Quebec model would increase Canada's gross domestic product by 1.2 per cent. Focusing on delivering national child care would combat the she-cession phenomenon by allowing more women to re-enter the workforce more quickly.

If Justin Trudeau is as feminist as he claims it, he should stop thinking about an election and get to work delivering the national child care system his party has been promising for decades.

Canadians deserve better