保守党议员Lisa Raitt说杜鲁多让纳税人为他的保姆买单是伪善的

PM is 'only man in Canada who makes $325,000 who is going to get money for his child care'

Conservative finance critic Lisa Raitt says it is "hypocritical" for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to bill taxpayers for nannies after he spent the last campaign telling voters he didn't need the Tory child tax benefit because he had more than enough money to support his children.

CBC News reported Monday that taxpayers are paying the wages of two nannies who care for the children of Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau. The hirings were approved late last week, with cabinet authorizing the appointment of the two women under the Official Residences Act as "special assistants" at the prime minister's residence.

Kate Purchase, director of communications in the prime minister's office, told CBC News the Trudeaus employ "two household employees who, in addition to performing other duties around the house, act as secondary caregivers" to the couple's three children. 

"But then in another guise [he] does accept taxpayer dollars … so that he can care for his kids by the use of two nannies funded by the state. I think that's hypocritical and I think he should take it out of his own salary," Raitt said.

Trudeau said on the campaign trail that he opposed the Conservative child benefit plan because it sends "cheques to millionaires," adding that any government plan should help families who need a leg up, "not families like mine or Mr. Harper's."

Raitt said Trudeau's latest move is a betrayal of those principles.

"The only man in Canada who makes $325,000 a year who is going to get taxpayer dollars for his child care is the prime minister of Canada and I think that's wrong," she said. 

The women will earn between $15 and $20 an hour for work during the day and a lower amount when working at night.

'We still made it work without taxpayer dollars'

Raitt said that the Trudeau family should follow the lead of ministers in the previous Conservative government who juggled young families and busy careers by making alternate arrangements and paying out-of-pocket for their child care.

"My kids were 7 and 4 when I started … I never used taxpayer dollars in order to look after the needs of my children, that was something that I have to do in order to have a household. We still made it work without taxpayer dollars," Raitt, a former minister in the Harper government, said.

Conservative Interim Leader Rona Ambrose said Trudeau's nannies have become a "political issue" because he made a point of rejecting the child benefit because of his family's wealth.