Budget 2024 | Delivering Fairness For Every Generation

Budget 2024 is aimed at prioritizing fairness and allowing every generation an opportunity to succeed

Making child care more affordable

Budget 2024 proposes launching the Child Care Expansion Loan Program, which ensures that every child receives a strong foundation for life, while also allowing parents to balance family responsibilities with their careers. This program will:

Assisting providers in constructing additional child care spaces
Ensuring these spaces cater to the diverse needs of Canadian families
Allocating funds for the expansion of child care centres
Implementing workforce solutions to enhance the number of Early Childhood educators

Supporting our students

We are expanding access to post-secondary education and generating fresh opportunities for young Canadians to acquire the skills necessary to secure quality employment. We're backing our undergrads by:

Enhancing the full-time Canada Student Grant to $4,200 annually 587,000 students
Raising interest-free Canada Student Loans to $300 per week from $210 for 652,000 students
Increasing grants proportionally for part-time students with disabilities and students with dependents

Supporting our seniors

We'll always be there for our seniors. Since 2015, we have enhanced the pensions and benefits provided to seniors, resulting in 11,000 fewer seniors living in poverty today. Key ongoing actions in Budget 2024:

Keeping the age of eligibility for OAS and GIS benefits at 65 instead of 67
Raising the maximum GIS benefit for single seniors by 10%, resulting in an additional $1,150 in 2023
Improving the GIS earnings exemption to $15,000
Boosting OAS payments for seniors aged 75 and older by 10%, adding $800 per year

Further, Budget 2024 will reinforce long-term care by implementing new national standards and improving the Canada Pension Plan through technical amendments.

Launching a national pharmacare plan

It's time to make essential medication more accessible for Canadians. We are committed to offering universal, single-payer coverage for contraceptives and diabetes medications. Our plan will:

Enhance access to contraception and promote reproductive autonomy for 9 million women
Mitigate the likelihood of unplanned pregnancies
Facilitate access to diabetes devices and supplies
Expand access to primary treatments for reducing blood glucose levels, such as insulin and metformin
Decrease the likelihood of severe, life-altering health complications

Creating a national disability benefit

Increasing supports for those with disabilities because every dollar counts. The Canada Disability Benefit will bridge a crucial gap in Canada's social safety net, tackling the issue of poverty among individuals with disabilities. The Canada Disability Benefit will:

Enhance financial security for over 600,000 low-income individuals with disabilities
Offer $2,400 annually for low-income individuals with disabilities aged 18 to 64
Ensure equitable opportunities for future individuals living with disabilities
Allocate $6.1 billion over 6 years, with $1.4 billion per year thereafter

Supercharging housing supply

We are embarking on a home-building initiative unprecedented since World War Two, with all levels of government, home builders, non-profits, and communities collaborating to meet our housing needs. Our plan will:

Construct 3.87 million new homes within the next 7 years
Adopt innovative methods to expedite home construction
Open up land for new home construction
Recruit and educate skilled laborers
Simplify the process of renting or owning a home
Develop additional affordable housing

Changing how Canada builds

Through embracing innovation and collaboration, we can guarantee that high-quality homes are affordable for everyone. Our plan will:

Catalogs of pre-approved home designs
Revisions to the National Building Code
Factories for prefabricated and modular housing
New technologies, such as mass timber production, panelization, and 3D printing

Making it easier to rent and own

We are implementing measures to safeguard renters, assist them in transitioning to homeownership, and shield homeowners from escalating mortgage costs.

For renters, that means:

Establishing the Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights to protect against unjust practices, streamline lease agreements, and improve price transparency
Enabling renters to include rent payments in their credit history
Introducing a tenant protection fund to deter unjustified rent increases and wrongful evictions

For first-time buyers, that means:

Extending the amortization period for new builds by 5 years
Improving tax-saving schemes that assist young Canadians in saving for their initial home purchase
Raising the Home Buyers Plan withdrawal threshold from $35,000 to $60,000

Securing Canada's AI advantage

Recognizing the transformative economic potential of AI, we are enhancing support to stimulate innovation, foster economic growth, and maintain competitiveness in the global AI landscape. We’re investing:

$2 billion over five years to establish a new AI Complete Access Fund and Canadian AI Sovereign Compute Strategy, aiding Canadian researchers in building AI infrastructure
$200 million over five years to enhance AI start-ups and expedite AI integration in healthcare and agriculture
$100 million over five years to assist Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises in developing AI solutions
$50 million over four years to support workers potentially affected by AI

Empowering homegrown research

Canadian students and post-graduate researchers are shaping the future of innovation and prosperity in our country, and our government is committed to providing steadfast support throughout their journey. Budget 2024 will:

Raise the annual value of Canada Graduate Scholarships for master's students from $17,500 to $27,000
Raise the value of doctoral fellowships to $40,000
Raise the value of post-doctoral fellowships to $70,000
Increase the number of scholars benefiting by 1,720 each year

Our North, strong and free

In light of the rapidly evolving security landscape, we are investing in national defence to safeguard the safety of Canadians, our allies, and our partners in an ever-changing world. Our plan includes:

Allocating $8.1 billion over the next five years, and $73 billion over the following 20 years
Providing our military with the necessary equipment to protect Canada
Increasing our defence spending to 1.76% of GDP by 2029-2030
Enhancing our continental security and bolstering our ability to contribute to security in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions

A fairer tax system

We are calling upon Canada's most fortunate individuals to contribute to a fair tax system for all generations. One approach we are taking is through capital gains, which refer to the profits earned from selling an investment.

To build a fairer country, we’re proposing a tax on two thirds of capital gains that exceed $250,000(per individual, per year)

There will be no tax adjustments affecting your home or tax-sheltered savings (TFSA, RRSP, CPP).
Budget 2024 includes significant investments in our entrepreneurs to sustain growth and innovation.