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Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "belligerent" promotion of his party's child-care plan will not goad Liberals into "phoney wars," says Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale.
Goodale was responding to Harper's statement on Tuesday that opposition parties should consider "the alternatives very carefully" before voting against the government's proposed $1,200 child-care payments to parents.
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A budget is always a matter of confidence, Goodale said. He added that the opposition must decide on balance if the budget is worth a non-confidence vote.
"I would not see child care being the dividing point," he said. "There may be other dividing points. For example if Mr. Harper proposes in the budget to increase personal income taxes, that might well be a dividing point."
"If Mr. Harper now wishes to come along and add another $1,200 on top of what is already there obviously that's not something that Liberals are likely to oppose," he said.
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But Liberals do want to talk to the government about the proposed method of payment, which Goodale said would be taxable and subject to clawbacks.
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"What we would recommend is take the $1,200 and add it to the National Child Benefit which would we think would be a more equitable way to distribute the money," Goodale said.
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- reprinted from the Regina Leader-Post