WINNIPEG, MB, May 17, 2024
/CNW/ - Every generation deserves a fair, healthy future – from
kids, to parents, to grandparents. That means we support each other
at every stage of life – starting from childhood.
The federal government has made generational investments such as
the Canada-wide early learning and
child care system, the Canada Dental Benefit, and the Canada Child
Benefit, which together are helping families across Canada save thousands of dollars every year.
Since 2015, we have helped lift hundreds of thousands of children
out of poverty.
When it comes to supporting families and kids, we're going to
keep going. With Budget 2024, we're delivering fairness for every
generation.
The Prime Minister, Justin
Trudeau, today highlighted the new National School Food
Program. With an investment of $1
billion over five years, the Program, included in Budget
2024, will provide meals to 400,000 more kids every year, beyond
those served by existing school food programs.
This will mean peace of mind for parents and healthy meals for
kids – helping them learn, grow, and get the best start to life.
The Program will also be a safety net for the kids who need this
support the most. We're going to work with provinces, territories,
and Indigenous partners to get this program to schools across the
country.
The Prime Minister also highlighted other measures from
Budget 2024 to support parents, families, and kids:
- Supporting after-school learning. Budget 2024
invests $67.5 million to help
students, including Indigenous, low-income, and at-risk youth,
reach their full potential. By investing in after-school learning
and supports, such as mentorship and academic assistance, students
will be able to better learn, grow, and succeed.
- Launching a new Child Care Expansion Loan
Program. With up to $1 billion in low-cost loans and
$60 million in non-repayable grants, public and not-for-profit
child care providers will be able to build new spaces and renovate
their existing child care centres. This means more resources for
child care providers and more affordable child care options for
families.
- Helping students acquire coding skills with a
$39.2 million investment in
CanCode. CanCode has helped over 4.5 million students ‒ from
kindergarten through grade 12 ‒ develop coding and digital
skills, so they can succeed in science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics.
These measures will help ensure our kids have everything they
need to succeed, prosper, and reach their full potential. These are
just some of the things that we're doing in Budget 2024 to
build a better and fairer Canada
for every generation. We're also building more homes, improving
health care, and investing in our economy – to make sure every
Canadian has a fair chance to succeed.
Quotes
"Budget 2024 is about fairness – and that starts right from
childhood. The measures we're talking about today will support
families, make life more affordable, and invest directly in the
future of our kids. Let's make sure our youngest Canadians can
reach their full potential – feeling happy and healthy."
— The Rt. Hon. Justin
Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
"Fairness for every generation starts with ensuring every child
in Canada has the best start in
life. It's why we've made transformative investments in our social
safety net, such as affordable child care, the Canada Dental
Benefit, and the Canada Child Benefit. But more needs to be done.
That's why in Budget 2024, we're doing even more to build a
better, fairer Canada for children
and families and ensure every generation can reach their full
potential."
— The Hon. Chrystia
Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
"Ensuring that every child has the best possible start in life
is the drive behind so many of our investments. Budget 2024 is
about ensuring fairness for everyone, and that includes the
youngest amongst us. With measures such as the Canada Child
Benefit, the Canada Dental Benefit, affordable high-quality child
care, and our new National School Food Program, children in
Canada will be able to reach their
full potential."
— The Hon. Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children and
Social Development
"Manitoba is leading
Canada in our
universally-accessible school nutrition programming. Students can't
learn on an empty stomach. Providing meals to students who need
them will help set them up for academic success and positive
learning outcomes. Our government is providing a record
$30 million into school meal programs to ensure that children
have barrier-free access to food, particularly in areas where
the needs are greatest and where students need it the most."
— The Hon. Nello Altomare,
Manitoba's Minister of Education
and Early Childhood Learning
Quick Facts
- The Government of Canada's
Budget 2024 was tabled in the House of Commons by the Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Finance on April
16, 2024.
- The new $1 billion National
School Food Program includes investments that will support school
food programming for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis
communities as well as Self-Governing and Modern Treaty partners,
many of whom have some of the highest rates of food insecurity in
Canada. Investments will also
support capacity building and engagement with Indigenous partners
to develop culturally appropriate solutions. These partnerships
will aim to tackle food insecurity by advancing Indigenous-led
solutions and will further our work on reconciliation.
- As part of Budget 2021, the Government of Canada made a transformative
investment of more than $27 billion over five years to
build a Canada-wide early learning
and child care system with provinces and territories. Combined with
investments since Budget 2021, the federal government is
investing nearly $40 billion in early learning and child care.
And in just three years, we've made incredible progress: Across the
country, over 750,000 kids are already benefiting from affordable,
high-quality child care, with some families saving up to
$14,300 per child, per year.
Alongside provinces and territories, we have also announced
measures to create over 100,000 new spaces, well on our way to
reaching our goal of creating 250,000 new spaces by March 2026.
- To give every child the best start in life, Budget 2024 is
also:
- Increasing training for early childhood educators. We're
investing $10 million over two years to train more early
childhood educators, building up the talent needed for the
expansion of affordable, high-quality child care.
- Improving child care access for military families. Military
service often demands frequent moves and deployments, making
quality child care more than just a convenience. Budget 2024
invests $100 million over five years to provide Canadian Armed
Forces personnel and their families with better access to child
care on bases across Canada.
- Launching a new Youth Mental Health Fund to ensure that younger
generations have the access they need to mental health supports, so
they can have a healthy start to adulthood. Budget 2024
proposes an investment of $500 million over five years to
ensure youth have access to mental health supports in their
community.
- Ensuring a brighter and more prosperous future for First
Nations children, youth, and communities with a proposed new
investment of $1.2 billion in
First Nations' kindergarten to grade 12 education and $242.7 million to increase access to
post-secondary education for First Nations students.
- Keeping our children safe by protecting them from online harm.
Budget 2024 proposes an investment of $7.5 million over three years, starting in
2024-25, to the Public Health Agency of Canada to support Kids Help Phone in their
work providing mental health, counselling, and crisis support to
young people.
- These new investments build on the significant progress we have
already made to help kids reach their full potential and level the
playing field for parents, including by:
- Giving families more money through the Canada Child
Benefit, to help with the costs of raising their kids and make a
real difference in the lives of children in Canada. The Canada Child Benefit, which can
provide up to $7,437 per child per
year, is indexed annually to keep up with the cost of living.
- Improving access to dental health care for children under the
age of 12 through the Canada Dental Benefit, and soon for
children under 18 with the Canadian Dental Care Plan, because
no one should have to choose between taking care of their kids'
teeth and putting food on the table.
Associated Links
- Fairness for Every Generation
- Budget 2024: Fairness for Every Generation
This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca
SOURCE Prime Minister's Office