The UCCB Isn't About Parents - It's About the Election | Brent Rathgeber
m.huffpost.com
It was actually painful to watch Minister of Employment, the Honourable Pierre Poilievre yesterday standing in front of a Government of Canada back screen and behind a Government of Canada podium, but wearing a Conservative branded golf shirt, as he announced the largest one-time payout in Canadian history.
In case you missed it (and that barely seems possible, given how much time and energy the government has dedicated towards promoting it), the government increased the Universal Child Care Benefit for children under six from $100 to $160 and created a new $60 stipend for children between the ages of six and 17.
To add to the hype around the announcement, the program commenced January 1, but the government claims it was incapable of processing checks, so lump-sum, backdated cheques are arriving in parents' mailboxes this week. I generally do not dismiss the bureaucracy's general incompetence, but the fact that we are less than 100 days away from a general election may be a better explanation for the large, lump-sum, backdated payments.
There was a time when Conservatives would scoff at, or at least be embarrassed by, a huge expenditure, especially those considered to be an aggregate of the welfare state. However, I truthfully cannot remember when that might have been. After seven consecutive deficit budgets, adding over $200 billion to the national debt, including the single largest deficit in Canadian history, this Conservative government is clearly not embarrassed by spending taxpayers' dollars in large quantities.
However, you would think that there would remain some principled elements within the Conservative Party, who would see through the blatant and shameless self-promotion of having the minister wear a partisan branded shirt, having other ministers fan out all across the country to make comparable announcements, all on the eve of a national election, in which the polls, although tight, show the Conservatives trailing. Apparently, not.
The cheques might appear large ($520 for children under six and $420 for children under 18). However, it really is not Christmas in July for parents. In the last Omnibus Budget Bill, the government eliminated the Child Tax Credit. Moreover, the new Universal Child Care Benefit is taxable income. So although you get to cash the cheque before the election, when next April arrives, parents will be taxed on much of that so-called Christmas present. With the elimination of the Child Tax Credit, a family earning $90,000 per year will only be able to keep an extra $7.50 per month after the tax claw back.
The UCCB Isn't About Parents - It's About the Election | Brent Rathgeber