Boost to GST credit, rent support and dental benefit to be first bills when Parliament returns: Trudeau

 

Boost to GST credit, rent support and dental benefit to be first bills when Parliament returns: Trudeau (msn.com)

Boost to GST credit, rent support and dental benefit to be first bills when Parliament returns: Trudeau

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Boost to GST credit, rent support and dental benefit to be first bills when Parliament returns: Trudeau

Anja Karadeglija - 1h ago

 

OTTAWA — The Liberal government will introduce legislation to double the GST credit for six months, provide direct payments for dental care for uninsured children under 12, and give a one-time $500 top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit for low-income renters.

 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a speech during the Liberal summer caucus retreat in St. Andrews, N.B., Monday, Sept. 12.© Provided by National Post

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted the measures, targeted to low-income Canadians, won’t contribute to rising inflation.

 

 

“These are things that will make a difference in people’s lives right now. But they are also sufficiently targeted, that we are confident that they will not contribute to increased inflation,” he said, speaking at a press conference Tuesday from Saint Andrews, N.B., where the Liberal caucus is meeting this week. He said the new initiatives would affect “millions of Canadians.”

The announcement comes after months in which Pierre Poilievre — who became Conservative leader Saturday — has been attacking Trudeau over rising inflation, while the NDP has been calling for the Liberals to implement the measures, with the NDP-Liberal supply and confidence agreement as leverage.

Poilievre said Tuesday the “problem is the money will be vaporized by inflation.” He gave the example of the housing benefit, which will provide a one-time payment of $500 when average rents in big cities can be more than $2,000 a month. Poilievre said the government should be taking measures to counter inflation rather than “trying to spend more money to make the problem worse.”

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The Liberals were wary of introducing too much money into the economy to avoid driving up demand and inflation. They were warned against it by several economists, including just last week by CIBC World Markets chief economist Avery Shenfeld.

Inflation appears to have peaked in June, reaching a 40-year high of 9.1 per cent. It fell to 8.3 per cent in August, largely as a result of lower gas prices.

The Liberals initially planned to unveil the new announcements last week, but postponed it following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday.

Related video: Trudeau outlines $4.5B affordability plan that includes dental care

 

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Trudeau outlines $4.5B affordability plan that includes dental care

Dental care was the centrepiece of the supply and confidence agreement the minority Liberals reached with the NDP early this year, under which the NDP would support the minority Liberal government to keep them in power until 2025.

The dental care program the two parties agreed on will be available to families with an annual income of less than $90,000. The agreement stipulates children under 12 will be covered by the end this year, and the program will then expand to those under 18, seniors and people with a disability. It would be fully implemented by 2025.

But the program won’t be in place before the end of the year. In the meantime, the government is introducing a Canada Dental Benefit for eligible families with children under 12 who don’t have dental insurance. It said the benefit will provide up to $650 per year per child for dental care services for applicants with a family income under $70,000, $390 for those with a family income of $70,000 to $79,999, and $260 for those with a family income of $80,000 to $89,999.

The deal with the NDP also included a $500 one-time top up to the Canada Housing Benefit, which provides support with rental costs to low-income households.

The Liberal government has already allocated spending for both initiatives, including $475 million in the April federal budget for the housing benefit and $5.3 billion over five years for dental care.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has also called for the government to double the GST credit to help Canadians struggling with rising inflation.

Singh said the NDP also “forced this government to deliver on something that was outside of what we initially forced them to write on paper, and that’s doubling the GST credit.”

The quarterly payment is currently $467 for single individuals, $612 for those who are married or common-law, with an additional $161 per child, and is available to those who have a family income below $49,166 to $64,946, depending on whether they are single individuals or in families with multiple children.

Trudeau said Tuesday the GST credit increase would “provide hundreds of dollars of support to Canadians including half of all families and more than half of all seniors in the country.”

Poilievre is heavily critical of the supply and confidence deal, calling the Liberals and NDP a “radical woke coalition.”

Liberal cabinet ministers at the retreat in New Brunswick rejected that notion.

“Frankly, I don’t even know what it means to be woke,” said Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, headed into the final day of caucus meetings Tuesday.

Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said he is not woke, “and trust me, no one in my family believes that either.”

With additional reporting by The Canadian Press