OTTAWA, March 24, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — The Cardus pro-family think tank is largely praising the Liberal government’s new budget as it relates to families across the country, while pointing out, however, that there remains room for improvement.
“We’d give the government a ‘B.’ The up side: there will be more money, a simpler benefit structure, and more flexibility for most families. The down side: the benefits may not be sustainable and are structured towards individual poverty reduction rather than a recognition that the family is an important societal institution,” Andrea Mrozek, program director of Cardus Family, stated in an analysis of the new family benefits plan.
The government has set up a Canada Child Benefit Calculator online where parents can see how much their families will benefit from the new plan.
Mrozek drew attention to the key points in the new plan that was released earlier this week:
- “The family benefits include more money given directly to most parents, and these benefits extend to those earning $200,000.”
- “All of the existing benefits are streamlined into one, which is an advantage for the sake of simplicity. In addition, these benefits target those with lower incomes. The benefits are not taxed.”
- “The greater flexibility afforded by extending parental leave time to 12 months within an 18 month period is another positive improvement in the government’s family package.”
- “The Liberal government’s new Canada Child Benefit combined with increased flexibility on parental leave is a help to families because it returns more tax dollars directly to Canadian families. The plan is focused on cash benefits as contrasted with the creation of a government daycare system.”
Mrozek noted, however, that not everything in the plan amounts to “sunny days.”
“The withdrawal of income splitting, also known as family taxation, is another negative change. Family taxation allows families to file their taxes as they are already doing their family budget: together.”
Importantly she noted: “A consequence of the government’s actions on child benefits combined with the removal of family taxation is that the emphasis shifts toward poverty reduction and away from a recognition of children or the family as important societal institutions.”
“In sum, we give the new child benefits a ‘B.’ This grade recognizes the positive contributions, while indicating there remains room for improvement,” she concluded.
Brian Lilley of TheRebel criticized the Liberals for setting the almost $30 billion deficit wrapped into the budget well over a campaign promise of only a $10 billion deficit.
“We already knew that the Liberals would stray from their promise of three small deficits of $10B but we didn’t know how high they would go. Well, now we do and I really wasn’t far off in my prediction of $30 billion,” he said.
Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose called it a “bad day for Canadian taxpayers.”
“What we're seeing now is reckless spending without a job creation plan and no actual plan in the budget to return to a balance,” she said.
Lilley put it this way: “But, let’s be honest – the Liberals aren’t interested in helping people get jobs. They’re only interested in spending your money. They’re pretty good at doing that if nothing else.”