No Surprises Here

At least we can rest assured that the Harper government is living up to its name as a typical conservative government.

From today's Globe and Mail:

OTTAWA — Low- and middle-income families will realize the smallest net
benefit from the Harper government's $1,200-a-year child-care payment in part
because the Conservatives are scrapping a separate assistance program.
The
Conservative plan for meeting the country's child-care needs is to give families
a direct payment of $100 a month, $1,200 annually, for every child under 6. The
specifics of how that plan will be unveiled are expected to be in next Tuesday's
budget.
But the young-child supplement of the Canada Child Tax Benefit, which
currently pays $20.25 a month to parents who do not claim child-care expenses
for their preschool-age children, will be eliminated at the same time. The
benefit is due to increase in July to $249 annually.
The [Caledon] [I]nstitute
has calculated that the families who will benefit most from the child-care
allowance, after taxes and clawbacks, are those making $200,000 a year or more
with one parent at home. They will keep $1,076 of the $1,200
annually.
Families with two working parents and a combined income of $30,000,
by contrast, will keep just $199 annually of the new payments.

While highly frustrating, I can't say that I'm that surprised by this latest seeming gift to the wealthy.