Angry in the Great White North

The first cheques for the Universal Child Care Benefit were sent out this week. My family received one, but because one of kiddies slipped through the documentation cracks, we were short by a hundred bucks. It was our fault -- I'm pretty sure we didn't apply for the old CCTB when he was born, figuring we wouldn't get much. No matter -- the paperwork to add him in has been sent off, and the friendly person at CRA assures us that when the little guy is in the database, we'll get his benefit as well, backdated. And the old Child Care Tax Benefit backdated too.

Now what to do with the money? Of course, our socialist friends at rabble have an opinion. Consider the words of Marg Bedore:

I am still so angry about this deceptive program. I earn the average Canadian income and I have no problem with helping those families who are in need but I resent my tax dollars being given to the Mrs Harper's who are rich and stay at home and do not need or use day care. Will they be buying i-pods for their toddlers with my taxes.

A Freudian slip at the end there. She presumably meant to pose the question, instead of souding like the purchase of iPods for toddlers was a given.

I guess we fall into the category she labels the "Mrs Harpers". We don't use daycare either. But we do need diapers and milk and veggies and so on, and this money will help immensely.

So thanks for your contribution, Marg Bedore. Be assured that I won't be using your money to buy an iPod (or beer, or popcorn).

Not that it would be any of your business if I did. But then that's the problem, isn't it. Unless you see what I'm doing, you just assume I can't possibly have the same high standards when it comes to childcare as you do. Especially if I make a decent living. If I can provide for my children, I must provide for them badly. The only true nobility comes from poverty (or at least low-middle-class-ness).

I guess the maximum income level where you don't make so much that your wealth turns you into a horrible person is whatever Marg Bedore is making right now.

According to Marg Bedore, if I did understand what was best for my kids, I would be sending them to a state-run daycare facility. Then the kids would grow up to hate those who don't pay enough taxes and hate those who don't support expensive and intrusive government programs, like state-run daycare.

They would grow up to be like Marg Bedore.

Whew, that was a close one!