The governing Liberals made universal child care an election pledge during a campaign stop in Ontario on Aug. 17, two days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called an early election for Sept. 20. But as more provinces sign up for the federal government’s universal child-care program, experts warn that the subsidy could lead to aid dependency among daycare centres and parents as well as lower wealth levels. The 2021 federal budget proposed spending up to $30 billion over the next five years to reduce child-care fees to an average of $10 a day in regulated centres across the country and to support early childhood learning services. Douglas Allen, an economics professor at Simon Fraser University, says a child-care subsidy would have different effects for families with different income levels. For two-income families making over $100,000 a year that already use child-care services, “what you’re doing is giving a gift to …