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The federal Liberal budget was tabled on Tuesday by Finance Minister Bill Morneau.
Here are some of the highlights:
- $1.7 billion over five years, and $586 million a year after that, for a Canada Training Benefit to help workers upgrade skills and acquire new ones while keeping their jobs. The benefit includes a $250−a−year tax credit to pay for training programs and access to employment insurance to cover living expenses for up to four weeks away from work.
- $1.18 billion over five years to toughen border security, including hiring more judges to handle judicial reviews of asylum applications.
An affordable place to call home. Good well-paying jobs. A secure retirement. And affordable prescription drugs. Budget 2019 is about investing in the middle class. https://t.co/PQmiAZeIyl pic.twitter.com/V391mBSdZw
— Bill Morneau (@Bill_Morneau) March 19, 2019
- Measures to make housing more affordable, especially for first−time buyers, by letting them borrow $35,000 from RRSPs (up from $25,000) and having the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. contribute a small share of equity for down payments.
- A federal deficit of $19.8 billion, including a $3−billion "risk adjustment," an increase of $200 million from last year’s forecast. The Liberals’ forecast again includes a gradual reduction in the deficit, but not quite as quickly as anticipated last year. By 2023−2024, the projected federal deficit is $11.4 billion.
- $3.9 billion for farmers in supply−managed industries affected by new trade agreements with the United States and Asian countries.
- $2.2 billion for municipalities’ and First Nations’ infrastructure projects, through a one−time boost to the amount distributed through the federal gas−tax transfer.
- $1.2 billion over three years to enhance social services for Indigenous families and children, the main element in a package of spending aimed at Indigenous Peoples.
- Lowering the interest rate on Canada Student Loans to the prime rate, from the current prime−plus−2.5−percentage−points.
- Creating a new Canadian Drug Agency to centralize the evaluations of the effectiveness and efficiency of new drugs and buy in bulk nationwide, instead of province−by−province.
- $500 million a year, starting in 2022, to subsidize the costs of drugs for rare diseases, whose high costs are distributed among very few patients.
- $300 million over three years for rebates of up to $5,000 on electric or hydrogen−fuel−cell vehicles (with a maximum purchase price of $45,000).
- $950 million for municipal governments to refit their own buildings for energy efficiency and to provide their own subsidy programs for private homeowners to do the same.
- $50 million over five years to devise a new national dementia strategy.
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