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Ottawa extends deadline to apply for expanded child care benefits

Universal Child Care Benefit deadline extended.

Employment and Social Development Minister Pierre Poilievre needs your help, again.

The May 1 deadline to register for the expanded Universal Child Care Benefit has come and gone, but Poilievre doesn’t seem satisfied with the results of his push to get more families registered to receive benefits from the new and improved program.

Poilievre announced Friday that the government is extending the deadline for two weeks, trying to get more families to sign up for the expanded UCCB.

And, like he did weeks ago when the government’s campaign to get more registrants signed up for the UCCB took off, he’s asking for help from media and the public to get the word out.

Poilievre took to Twitter to push the announcement and said — pointing to Manitoba in particular — that 7600 families in that province won’t get UCCB benefits in July unless they register by May 15.

A press release from the government on Friday said the majority families with children, about 3.8 million, will automatically receive the enhanced UCCB or will be contacted by the government to confirm their information for the program.

“However, an estimated 200,000 eligible families are not currently captured by the Government’s UCCB system and may miss out on receiving money that is owed to them unless they apply,” the press release notes.

The Conservative government launched the Universal Child Care Benefit in 2006 and announced it would be expanding the program this year to give families $160 per month for every child under the age of six and $60 a month for kids aged six to 17. Previously, the benefit gave families with kids under the age of six $100 per month for each child.

The program, while lauded by the government, isn’t considered by everyone as the best solution to providing child care in the country. Critics say the benefit helps those who might not really need the help, and isn’t, in itself, enough to cover the high costs of day care.

Some, too, look at the timing of the expanded program with a cynical eye.

Just skimming the number of parents likely to benefit from the cheques, who may thank the Conservative government for those dollars, it’s almost no wonder why the government wants to get as many families in the system as possible.

The extra cash for parents will begin rolling out in July, just a few short months before the county is expected to head to the polls in the next federal election.