Let's be specific. The UCCB is ineffective. It is $100 a month. Of course, people appreciate money in their pockets. But if one looks at its goals, one sees that it's not really delivering child care services. In most situations, there are not services to buy, and it's not enough to assist in buying services.
Let's look at it as an income transfer, which is what it is. I would suggest that it needs to be “reconciled” with the child benefit, which is progressive. That means that the lower the income you have, the more benefit you have; the higher the income, the less the benefit. It goes all the way up to about a $95,000 income. It's a small benefit in relation to the cost of raising children, which is important for our society. I think we have to look again at the UCCB, and also we look again at the new Canada child tax credit, the little one that I believe was announced in the 2008 budget, which also has no rationale in tax terms.
It is important to look at poverty reduction measures, but you also have to recognize the cost of raising children. I don't want to imply that we don't think that's important. It is important. Most of the European countries have some form of universal child benefit to assist a wide range of families. Some things can be done that will make the tax measures more effective, more equitable than they are now.