Close X
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
ADVT 
National

Child benefits get small bump in payments

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Jul, 2021 09:53 AM
  • Child benefits get small bump in payments

Canadian families are seeing the lowest annual increase in federal child benefits since payments were tied to inflation as the pandemic has weighed on price growth over the last year.

The government announced Tuesday that Canada Child Benefit payments will max out this year at $6,833 for children five and under, and $5,765 for children six to 17.

The total value of payments will only rise by one per cent compared to the previous year, in line with the country's headline inflation reading, or roughly $5 more per month, per child.

Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen says the benefit itself has made an impact on poverty rates and families facing a financial crunch.

He is also touting extra child benefit payments the government is sending to parents that top out at $1,200 this year.

The extra payments should push the overall price tag of the benefit to over $27 billion this fiscal year before falling next year without the one-time, COVID-19 payments pushing up over the overall tab.

After that, the Finance Department estimated benefits to rise annually at around two per cent, which it said was in line with inflation expectations.

The Bank of Canada, which is mandated to keep inflation in check, now expects prices to increase by more than three per cent this year, and then above the central bank's comfort zone of two per cent in 2022 and 2023.

If that's the case, payments would rise at the fastest rate since the Liberals tied increases to inflation three years ago.

"We have made a commitment to make sure that we are there for families," Hussen said at an event in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.

"Before the pandemic during the pandemic, and after the pandemic, we are committed to continuing to support Canadian families. And one of the key pillars of that is the Canada Child Benefit."

The Liberals introduced the income-tested benefit in July 2016, shortly after taking office, and then tied the payments to the pace of price increases in 2018, two years before original plan to do so last year.

Since its introduction, the number of children living in poverty has fallen by 435,000 and the child poverty rate slid to 9.6 per cent from 16.3 per cent in 2019, according to the most recent figures from Statistics Canada.

The most recent data posted to a government website shows that in the 2019-2020 benefit year, more than $26.3 billion in child benefits flowed to families of some seven million children with an average payment of $3,811 for the year.

Broken down by riding, spending somewhat reflects where child poverty rates have previously been flagged as high, including in NDP MP Niki Ashton's Manitoba riding of Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, and Conservative Gary Vidal's Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River.

Five of the top 10 ridings for child benefit spending are held by Conservatives, or won by the party in the 2019 election, four by the Liberals, and Ashton as the lone New Democrat.</

MORE National ARTICLES

113 COVID19 cases for Wednesday

113 COVID19 cases for Wednesday
76.3% of all adults in B.C. and 74.6% of those 12 and older have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In total, 4,165,142 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 710,847 of which are second doses.

113 COVID19 cases for Wednesday

Couple pleads guilty to breaking Yukon COVID rules

Couple pleads guilty to breaking Yukon COVID rules
A husband and wife who flew to a remote Yukon community to receive early doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in January have pleaded guilty in a territorial court.    

Couple pleads guilty to breaking Yukon COVID rules

PPE, pandemic-related trash on shorelines: report

PPE, pandemic-related trash on shorelines: report
The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup 2020 annual report says litter from single-use food and drink packaging nearly doubled last year as restaurant takeout soared during lockdowns and physical distancing kept people outside and apart.

PPE, pandemic-related trash on shorelines: report

Vancouver police fears warm weather, easing restrictions could cause spike in jewelry scams

Vancouver police fears  warm weather, easing restrictions could cause spike in jewelry scams
Vancouver Police are reminding east-side residents to be wary of jewelry scammers, after a Collingwood man was bilked out of thousands of dollars yesterday.    

Vancouver police fears warm weather, easing restrictions could cause spike in jewelry scams

MPs not seeking re-election say their farewells

MPs not seeking re-election say their farewells
Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, the New Democrat MP for Nunavut, used the opportunity to blast Canada as a country built on the oppression of Indigenous People and whose history is "stained with blood."

MPs not seeking re-election say their farewells

Trudeau allowed to check out of quarantine hotel

Trudeau allowed to check out of quarantine hotel
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is being allowed to check out from his quarantine hotel roughly 12 hours after checking in. Trudeau's office says he received his negative COVID-19 test Wednesday morning and can now leave the three-star Ottawa lodging.

Trudeau allowed to check out of quarantine hotel