The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, Feb. 4, edition that the federal Liberals are attempting to address the country's economic issues by introducing a "Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit," which will provide over 12 million Canadians with $11.7-billion in handouts over six years. The Post's Matthew Lau writes that with this money, Ottawa's announcement said, "Canada's new government will be offsetting grocery cost increases beyond overall inflation since the pandemic." Whose monetary and fiscal policies enabled these harmful price increases since the pandemic the "new" government's announcement did not say. Rather than complex government strategies, a straightforward approach is better: If people cannot afford essentials like food, provide them with money to buy it. For child care, the Liberals' takeover of the daycare sector has had negative effects; giving parents money to choose their own care would have been a more sensible solution. But while less disastrous than other Liberal policies, the $11.7-billion grocery handouts are still a bad idea. Jack Mintz pointed out in FP Comment recently, they are "yet another welfare program that will discourage work, especially for second workers in a family."