These hirings were apparently approved in late November with cabinet authorizing the appointment of the two women under the Official Residences Act as “special assistants at the prime minister’s residence”. The nannies have been hired for $15 to $20 an hour during the day and $11 to $13 at night, a fee nanny associations say reflects the average rate.At a news conference Monday on the conference site, Trudeau said the three-month election campaign this fall that propelled his Liberals to power showed him that Canadians are ready to pitch in on fighting climate change.
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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.
During the recent election, Trudeau criticized the former Conservative government for a proposed universal child care benefit that would have applied to Canada’s wealthiest families, including his own.
The CBC reported that former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s desk was removed from the third-floor office on Parliament Hill.
Margaret Trudeau (L) waits with her grandchildren (L-R) Hadrien, Ella-Grace and Xavier during the arrival of her son, Prime Minister designate Justin Trudeau who is to be sworn in as the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, November 4, 2015. Should taxpayers pay for the Trudeau family’s nanny?Purchase said Trudeau will not expand the staff of the prime minister’s residence.
Section 7.1 of the Official Residence Act says cabinet may appoint “a steward or housekeeper and such other employees” deemed necessary for the management of the prime minister’s residence.
Trayvilla appears to have moved with family from Philippines to Ottawa and about five years ago was working for Ottawa lawyer Kirsten Crain and her husband, John Morales, who lived around the corner from the home Trudeau later rented in Rockcliffe.
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.
Kate Purchase, Trudeau’s director of communications, said in a statement the prime minister employs two household employees as “secondary caregivers” who also perform “other duties around the house”.
New Democrat MP Sheila Malcolmson, the party’s status of women critic, called out the prime minister for paying his nannies so little. “We have to take that into consideration, too”.
A spokesperson for Trudeau told CBC in an email that the prime minister isn’t increasing the household budget to pay for the nannies.
Mulroney faced controversy after he pledged to personally pay for the nanny, but later reneged on that promise and had the government foot the bill.
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“On the issue of running deficits, Canadians are split – just over half say that it’s something they support”.
