CCB FAVOURS MIDDLE & UPPER-INCOME CANADIANS

 The Trudeau government recently increased the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), a tax-free benefit paid to eligible parents with children under the age of 18. From the CCB’s inception in 2015, when it replaced two existing programs, the government’s common refrain has been that the CCB better focuses assistance to lower-income families, lowers child poverty and is an overall better program. But in reality, the CCB spends more on middle- and upper-income families than its predecessor programs, requires borrowing and is much more expensive than it needs to be.