Support for national dental care, pharmacare and $10-a-day daycare drops to 4-in-10 Canadians (or less) when tax increases are included, poll finds

Polling Canadians’ Support for New Federal Government Programs

Summary

• Several new spending programs in this year’s federal budget are financed by borrowing, which means the budget offers an incomplete picture to Canadians of the true cost of these programs because it defers tax increases to the future.
• 69% of Canadians surveyed supported the introduction of a national $10 a day daycare program when there is no cost attached. However, total national support drops to just 36% if the program is paid for by an increase in the GST.
• 79% of Canadians express support for universal national pharmacare with no costs attached. Support for the program is reduced by almost half, falling to 40% when the new program is financed by an increase in the GST.
• 72% of Canadians supported a national dental care program when no costs were attached. Total support declined to 42% when the new program was linked to an increase in the GST.
• None of the three programs garnered a majority of support from survey participants across the country when their costs were linked with a direct tax increase, specifically an increase in the GST.
• When Canadians were asked if they supported the three new government programs but with specific and transparent costs attached, namely an increase in the GST to pay for them, support across the country plummeted for all three.