A pre-election “cash goodie” for households with children will arrive in the mail or in your bank accounts this week

The federal government is rolling out its new Universal Child Care Benefit to families that have signed up to receive it. So, if you are a parent with children under the age of 18, you could see some extra money in your pocket… or could you?

Increasing the payout this year from $100 per month/ per child under the age of 6 years old, to $160 a month – the goal of the benefit aims to cover the cost of child care, which is lacking in many Canadian provinces and cities.

But, expert economists worry about just that –  the extreme lack of affordable daycare potentially destroying the country’s economy and employment sector – mainly because more and more parents are forced to cut back on work hours, simply so they can take care of their children at home, instead.

With roughly $3 billion dollars worth of money going out to about 3.8 million families, parents are still divided as to what the real benefit will be for them.

Cynthia Gubbels, Director of “Bambi’s Castle Day Care Centre” in Timmins says the new Universal Child Care Benefit isn’t a big enough one to really make a big dent in parent’s savings

Gubbels says all daycare prices in Timmins are relatively comparable, because they have a committee which works together to formulate rates/prices.

The Opposition parties are accusing the Harper government of using the payout to try to buy votes ahead of the fall election.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer suggests more than half of the people benefiting don’t even have child care costs – with the report reading,

“In 2015, 49 per cent of these benefits would go to families with child care expenses and young children, and the remaining 51 per cent to families with no child care expenses and families with older children”

It goes on to say those benefiting the most will be the ones whose child care costs are ZERO $0, meaning the benefits are going to high-income families that don’t even really need the money as badly as other families do, saying “It’s not the most efficient way to help the families that need it the most”.

To sign up for the Universal Child Care Benefit visit here