DCHP-3

baby bonus

DCHP-2 (Mar 2016)
n. — informal

a payment to parents or guardians of children, usually paid monthly by the federal government; occasionally as one-time payments (see the 2007 quotation).

Type: 2. Preservation — While precedents existed in 19th-century francophone Canada (see the 1905 quotation), a national plan to support families with children was instituted only at the end of the Second World War as part of a broader reconstruction plan (see also Family Allowance). Family Allowance legislation was officially passed in 1944 (see Canadian Encyclopedia reference). After 1989 the family allowance was paid solely to low income families. In 1992 the Conservative government established the current Child Tax Benefit program (see also Canada Child Tax Benefit and the 1992 quotation) which oversees Family Allowance, Refundable Child Tax Credit and a non-refundable child tax credit. In 2006, the Universal Child Care Benefit of roughly $100 per child per month was initiated, which was increased to $160 in 2015 just before the General Election.
Internet sources show that the term is used most frequently in Canada (see Chart 1), with similar programs in existence in Australia and New Zealand.
See also COD-2, s.v. "baby bonus" which is marked "Cdn. Informal", Gage-1, s.v. "baby bonus" which is marked "Cdn.", ITP Nelson, s.v. "baby bonus" which is marked "Canadian".
The term baby bonus continues to be used informally in reference to the current Canada Child Tax Benefit and the Universal Child Care Benefit.

Quotations

1905
The designer of the baby bonus idea was Mr. Honore Mercier, at one time Premier of the Province. A series of cirmustances bearing upon the condition and prospects of the French-Canadian race produced the legislation. [...] Vast numbers were slipping off to the factory towns of the United States and were remaining there. [...] It was to make up for this loss of population that the bonuses for babies were devised. [...] It must be said, however, that the idea was not at all orginal. The truth is it was copied from the policy of Louis XIV., and of Colbert, his famous Colonial Minister. [...] A very celebrated regiment, that of Carignan-Salieres, practically passed from military to civil life in Canada, each soldier receiving a grant of land and a cash bonus [...] shiploads of young girls were brought over, and were promptly married. [...] each couple would receive from the Government an ox, a cow, a pair of fowls, two barrels of salted meat, and eleven crowns in money.
1912
[Heading] CLERGY OPPOSE BABY BONUS: Australian Scheme They Say Would be Incentive to Immorality
1944
Finally, he came up to the baby bonus legislation, which has been standing in resolution form in his name since June 22.
1957
Mr. Bryne, in the independent spirit of the islanders, burned the baby bonus cheques he received for the six first months after Confederation.
1957
" 'Tis all very well, de baby bonus and de like o' dat, and very nice for de wife to buy a bar of soap or a bit of beef, fer ye can't live solid on fish and keep up yer stren'th."
1964
I would sooner see my baby bonus taken away and given to someone who needed it.
1975
As a sole-support mother with two children I, like most other women, need my Baby Bonus cheque to keep me going from one month to the next.
1985
In other testimony yesterday, representatives of the Saskatchewan Action Committee on the Status of Women said reducing the purchasing power of the baby bonus is wrong philosophically.
1992
Speaking of history, while the country was busy worrying about how to answer on October 26, the House of Commons scrapped the family allowance program - the first universal social program in Canadian history, when they were established in 1945. The last of the cheques, also known as the baby bonus, will be mailed out in December. They're being replaced with a child tax benefit cheque.
1999
Newfoundland would never have considered joining Canada had it not been for pragmatic considerations. It was about the baby bonus, about benefits and a better life for the children.
2007
During the campaign, in a move meant to shore up Newfoundland's low birth rate - the lowest in the country - Williams promised a one-time $1,000-per-head baby bonus.
2013
A baby bonus may not be the magic bullet, but if Canada's most easterly province is to find a healthy balance of age and youth, something must change to get Newfoundland's playgrounds full of life again.

References

Images

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 4 Feb. 2014

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 4 Feb. 2014