Presenting the least, that thing that Britney Spears is, (apologies to SF) Conservative Policy of the Campign thus far and I'm going to guess the entire campaign.

The Baby Bonus! Er... Child care policy, really.

In addition to $1.25 B in tax credits to businesses for providing 125,000 daycare spaces, the Conservatives are promising parents a cheque from the government of $100 every month for every child 6 and under to spend as they please with a view to provide partial relief of child care costs. The (subsidy/bonus/choice of parents over politicians/other talking point with dollar signs attached) will be treated as taxable income applied to the income of the poorer parent.

Good Points:

The payments are universal:

Harper is actually promising a universal entitlement. I didn't think he could do this without spontaneously combusting.

The payments are progressive:

In that the more you earn, the more $1200 of additional income will be taxed.

Bad Points:

The plan is spendthrift:

Harper's plan will cost about $940 Million per year more than the Liberal Plan for the first five years.

The money is poorly targeted:

Small business will be less likely to enjoy the economies of scale to set up such a program. I work at a job where there is 1 person on duty. It is an independent franchise. Do you really think they'll be able to set up a day care centre for Seanquixote Jr. ? What's more if the program is all about choice, then why tax credits to companies for day care, I thought this was the great conflict between the 2-income and 1-income family model. Quoth Rona Ambrose, Conservative MP for Edmonton Spruce Grove:

We don't want old white men telling us how to raise our children.

Odd, considering that the ol' boys network is at least as pervasive at the top of major corporations as it is in Canadian politics. Also the fact that old white men raise children, often on their own, seems to have completly escaped Rona.

Also, the payments component is basically a payment one receives by virtue of having a child, and will not necessarily be used to augment child care. As well, the money ends at age six. Having been raised by a single father, I can tell you the kids will still need day care after age six. And that brings me to my last point:

The program penalises single parents who work:

If you have a double income household you can still offload the money onto the spouse with the lower income. Often one spouse will work full time and the other part time. However Single working parents who are meeting additional expenses on thier own, who don't enjoy the utility that two parent households do in terms of flexibility, who enjoy fewer economies of scale than do two parent households, and who have incomes roughly 70% as high as the family average in the case of single mothers and 90% as high as the family avg. in the case single fathers, are going to work. They have to unless they are (on social assistance/independently wealthy/working out of the home) In otherwords this is not the norm. Single parents, the people most likely to benefit from a subsidized day care program, and thus a considered target of the Liberal plan, will enjoy the least benefit from a taxable cheque for $100 to spend as they please.

You know what frosts me about this issue roll out the most. The conceit that Mr. Harper seems to have that he isn't a politician:

Stephen: You are leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, you have served six years in parliament, run in four elections, two as leader, drafted the Refom Party policy, outmaneuvered David Orchard, brought down the government, appeared in the worst fake-objective ads possible...

YOU ARE A POLITICIAN!

Say it with pride. I do. Look in the mirror each morning, whether or not you can see your reflection (these are the jokes people), and repeat this fact over and over again.

Quit pretending that government is a black hole into which value for service is an alien concept. People who respond to issues that way may be more volatile, but they are also less likely to vote.

So I'm going out on a limb and saying that this isn't the last Conservative spending/tax giveaway promise from these supposed non-politicians that we've seen this election. Let's go to the tote board Vanna!

$9.94 Billion per year

We've only just begunnnnnnnn... to spennnnnnnnnnnnd.