Ottawa mum on child benefit missing families

OTTAWA — The federal department in charge of the monthly universal child care benefit is refusing to say how many families who had yet to sign up for the benefit opted to do so after a nationwide push earlier this year.

The Conservatives launched a frantic campaign in early summer to have an estimated 200,000 families sign up for the payments, estimating they were going to miss out on the cash.

Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre crossed Canada holding events where he and other Con- servative MPs repeated the message there were thousands of families missing out on the increased benefit payments. Government started referring to these households as “missing families.”

This week, Employment and Social Development Canada, which oversees the monthly child-care benefit program, wouldn’t say how many of those missing families had signed up on time for the increased payments, which started on July 20.

A department spokeswoman only said that the figure would be reported some time in the next few months, meaning the number won’t be available until after election day on Oct. 19. The department didn’t explain why it wasn’t releasing the number, even though Poilievre had said they would be available by now.

The decision to not release numbers appears to be linked to a practice during election campaigns where departments decline to put out information lest they be considered to be acting against the electoral interests of any party.