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Pierre Poilievre: Deadline To Apply For Universal Child Care Benefit Extended

Tories Extend Deadline To Apply For Key Benefit
CP

TORONTO — The Conservative government has extended the application deadline for a benefit that is a key plank of its election platform after few families signed-up.

Employment and Social Development Minister Pierre Poilievre announced Friday the application deadline for the enhanced Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) has been pushed until May 15 “so that more families can receive their UCCB cheque in July.” The original deadline was May 1.

Poilievre tweeted that more than 200,000 Canadian families with children under 18 had not applied for the new money.

The Tories announced last fall that they would increase the UCCB by giving all families with kids under 18 an extra $60 a month per child. Cheques will arrive in July — but will be backdated from Jan. 1, 2015 — so that several hundreds of dollars will flow to voters three months before the federal election on Oct. 19.

Two days ago, on Twitter, Poilievre referred to the UCCB increase as the “PM’s boosted child care benefit,” and encouraged families to sign up. “Make sure you get the first big payment in July,” he tweeted.

On Friday, Poilievre said he needed help from the media to look for those hundreds of thousands of families not currently registered for the child care benefit who would miss out on “millions of dollars” in unclaimed benefits.

Most families with children under six are already registered to receive the extra cash. If you think you could qualify see the Canada Revenue Agency website for more information.

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