Last week, the Harper Conservatives hit a new low. Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre raced around the country in an election-style campaign to promote Harper’s child care cheques, but there’s one thing he hasn’t told families: the new child “benefit” is taxable.
That’s right. Taxable. Which means that the Harper Conservatives are not only trying to buy our votes with our own money, they also plan to take BACK a hefty chunk in April - after the election.
Most benefits are taxable, but here’s the catch -- while bringing in the new child “benefit” the Conservatives also just quietly axed our $2,225 child tax credit. After all’s said and done, that means a typical working parent will receive just $13 a month to cover skyrocketing child care costs.[1]
Thirteen dollars. Not a single child care space, not affordable care and nowhere near an actual plan - just $13. That’s not even enough to buy a pack of diapers.
The scary thing is this could work - millions of cheques are arriving in people’s mailboxes right now, and most of the Canadians Harper is targeting simply don’t know that this is a cheap trick to try to buy their votes with their own money and leave them with little to show for it.They’ll see the hundreds of dollars in their bank account, not realising it’s going to get clawed back at tax time, leaving them barely better off overall.A new poll late last week shows an absolutely massive jump in support for the Harper Conservatives following the millions of dollars of cheques they just mailed out to parents.[1,2] They're back up to 38% in the latest poll, a level of support we haven't seen since 2012.
That’s right. Taxable. Which means that the Harper Conservatives are not only trying to buy our votes with our own money, they also plan to take BACK a hefty chunk in April - after the election.
Most benefits are taxable, but here’s the catch -- while bringing in the new child “benefit” the Conservatives also just quietly axed our $2,225 child tax credit. After all’s said and done, that means a typical working parent will receive just $13 a month to cover skyrocketing child care costs.[1]
Thirteen dollars. Not a single child care space, not affordable care and nowhere near an actual plan - just $13. That’s not even enough to buy a pack of diapers.
The scary thing is this could work - millions of cheques are arriving in people’s mailboxes right now, and most of the Canadians Harper is targeting simply don’t know that this is a cheap trick to try to buy their votes with their own money and leave them with little to show for it.They’ll see the hundreds of dollars in their bank account, not realising it’s going to get clawed back at tax time, leaving them barely better off overall.A new poll late last week shows an absolutely massive jump in support for the Harper Conservatives following the millions of dollars of cheques they just mailed out to parents.[1,2] They're back up to 38% in the latest poll, a level of support we haven't seen since 2012.
Let's face the hard truth here: with our broken electoral system, if that level of support holds up, it could be all they need to get another majority government in October's election.
Harper's sneaky plan to buy Canadians' votes with our own money is working, and there's one simple reason why --parents simply haven't heard that it's a trick. The new "money" they're receiving goes hand in hand with slashing the $2,225 per year child tax credit.[3]
Sources:
[1] Conservative support among voters jumps as child care cheques land on doorsteps, poll finds (National Post)
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/conservative-support-among-voters-jumps-as-childcare-cheques-doled-out-poll
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/conservative-support-among-voters-jumps-as-childcare-cheques-doled-out-poll
[2] Conservative Christmas – in July (Mainstreet Research / Postmedia)
http://www.mainstreetresearch.ca/2015/07/24/conservative-christmas-in-july/
http://www.mainstreetresearch.ca/2015/07/24/conservative-christmas-in-july/
[3] New child benefits may not be worth as much as advertised, experts say (CTV News)
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/new-child-benefits-may-not-be-worth-as-much-as-advertised-experts-say-1.2481038
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/new-child-benefits-may-not-be-worth-as-much-as-advertised-experts-say-1.2481038
