The federal Conservative platform for the 2019 election will not include a tax deduction for parents who send their kids to private and independent schools, iPolitics has learned.

A spokesperson for Andrew Scheer confirmed in an email statement that the Tory leader would not move ahead with the tax credit because of the large budget deficits recorded by the Trudeau government in recent years.

“As a result of Trudeau’s budget mess, Mr. Scheer will not move ahead with the tax credit for independent schools at this time,” Daniel Schow told iPolitics.

During the 2017 leadership campaign, Scheer promised to offer a $4,000 income tax deduction for parents who send their kids to private schools.

In recent weeks, the Liberals and other critics have raised the plan in warning against voting for the Tories, arguing the tax credit would cost billions of dollars per year and was an unnecessary subsidy to already wealthy parents.

Schow said Scheer “always believe that parents, not government, are best suited to make decisions on their kids’ future,” but argued that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “reckless spending and endless deficits” during the past four years threaten crucial public services and government programs.

In this past March’s federal budget, the Liberal government projected a $19.7 billion deficit for 2019-20. In the three previous years, the Liberals tabled budgets that resulted in annual deficits of nearly $20 billion.

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