Canada Bribes People To Make More People
16 08 2006I came across the info below in the No KIDDING email digest the other day sent by Jerry Steinberg. I thought it was worth telling more people about it, particularly childfree people so I asked if I could post it here on Like It Is. As childfree people we’ve made a conscious decision not to add to the overpopulation of the world. So it’s more than a little galling to learn how our hard earned money is being used. To help people produce even more kids.
So here’s the news. Thanks to Jerry for circulating.
The government of Canada has been paying for ads on radio (and possibly other media) announcing that they are sending monthly cheques (Canadian spelling) for $100 for each child under age six to parents under the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB). In other words, parents are being paid $7,200 ($1,200 per child for six years) for each child they produce. That’s my money and your money that they’re receiving to make more babies. For more information, visit Universal Child Care. If you find anything interesting (i.e. upsetting) at the above website or websites linked to it, send it on to Jerry Steinberg, (the Founding Non-Father of NO KIDDING) via the link below so that he can refer to it in future interviews.
And for those of you who are wondering what NO KIDDING is, it’s the international social club for childless and childfree couples and singles. It’s great for meeting and getting together socially with like-minded childfree people. You can find out more at www.nokidding.net
i think they’re doing a similar thing in singapore to boost population, they give subsidies or something like that to singaporeans who have more than three, four kids?
on the other hand, china fines their citizens if they have more than one kid in an attempt to curb population.
the world is just so messed up!
Governments originally started giving out baby bonuses and family allowances to encourage population growth. Of course, government by the time that occurred had taken off the blindfold of justice, and favoritism and privilege became obvious in policies.
This concept and “baby bonus” (family allowance) program has been in effect in Canada for as long as I can remember. IMO it’s a sacred cow that needs to be hung, drawn, quartered, cremated and have it’s ashes scatered in the four winds.
If you type Bountiful Creston BC into your browser you will find a whole Mormon community of polygamists ( yes, I do mean bigamists). They are od men with multiple teenaged wives who produce baby after baby and get a “family allowance” cheque for each child every month. The young men in their community, ont surprisingly, tend to leave it during their teen years.
The Universal Child Benefit makes me want to gag. Parents will get it in addition to Child Tax Benefit and can also claim it retroactively. The site says the UCC is to support child care choices. What about supporting people who have made a non-parenting choice?
Not only does this discriminate against non-parents in the worst way, but our taxes are going to support the production of more and more children - in addition to the tax we already pay(which already goes to support children in other ways, such as schools, education, child benefit etc). So we are taxed because we choose not to reproduce. In my opinion we should get a tax credit. Chalk up another point for pro-natalism.