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The Tories' political adversaries are opening a new front in the battle over child care, warning the promised $1,200 pre-schooler's allowance will hardly buy diapers after it's taxed and clawed back.
New Democrat Olivia Chow (Trinity Spadina) stacked up $1,200 in piles of $5 bills before cameras yesterday to show how the money would all but disappear for an Ontario couple earning $30,000, with both parents working, and needing care for one child.
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Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe and his daycare critic Paule Brunelle (Trois-Rivières) picked a similar theme yesterday when they proposed the allowance be turned into a refundable tax credit to offset the real costs of the most needy families.
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Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said in an interview yesterday her critics "are operating under false assumptions" that the provinces will "claw back" the money from those who receive income support.
Four provinces &emdash; Ontario, P.E.I., Saskatchewan and New Brunswick &emdash; have already pledged not to do so and "more are coming onside," she said.
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As for whether it should be part of the Child Tax Benefit, Finley said parents should get the money up front and "not have to wait until tax time."
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Details of how the payment will work will be unveiled in the federal budget later this spring.
- reprinted from the Toronto Star