National

On pre-budget charm offensive, Trudeau announces plans to expand $10-a-day child care

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Mar, 2024 11:15 AM

The federal government's pre-budget charm offensive is back for a second straight day — this time aimed at parents and child care providers.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government plans to provide more than $1 billion in low-cost loans, grants and student loan forgiveness to expand child care across Canada.

Trudeau made the announcement in Surrey, B.C., part of the Liberal government's effort to win back support among younger voters and middle-class families.

He says an additional $60 million will be set aside for non-repayable grants for eligible child care centres to build new spaces or renovate.

The government will also offer student loan forgiveness to rural and remote early childhood educators and another $10 million over two years to bolster their ranks with extra training.

The funding for more affordable child care spaces is an extension of the government's $10-a-day child care program agreed to by all provinces and territories.

On Wednesday, Trudeau kicked off the pre-budget tour by detailing a $15-million fund and a bill of rights to better protect tenants who rent their homes.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

'I heard my mother's last screams': Canadian Sikh shooting survivor slams cops for 'inaction'

With 13 bullets pumped inside her body, the lone survivor of a shooting spree in Canada last year who watched her Sikh parents die in front of her, wants swift justice and says police didn't do their duty well. Jagtar Singh Sidhu and Harbhajan Kaur, both in their 50s, were shot more than 20 times just before midnight on November 20 at their rental property along the Caledon-Brampton border in Ontario province.

'I heard my mother's last screams': Canadian Sikh shooting survivor slams cops for 'inaction'

2 deliberately hit by car in Abbotsford

Two youth in Abbotsford who said they were deliberately hit by a car were taken to hospital with minor injuries. Officers were called to a neighbourhood yesterday and found the teens who said the driver struck them after a disturbance.

2 deliberately hit by car in Abbotsford

RCMP forms team to combat extortion

The RCMP says it has established a national team to help co-ordinate investigations and information sharing about extortion schemes targeting South Asian businesses in B.C., Alberta and Ontario. Mounties say the team is a "nationwide alliance" of police agencies that are all investigating extortion and violent threats, which have been tied to shootings and arson.

RCMP forms team to combat extortion

Falcon says BC United's housing plan includes rent-to-own initiative, drops taxes Victoria

British Columbia's Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon is pitching a housing plan that aims to get more first-time buyers into homes, and it comes just days after Premier David Eby promised to build more affordable rental units for the middle class. Falcon says the BC United's "Fix Housing" plan includes four initiatives to reduce the high cost of housing and increase supply, which he pledges to introduce if his party takes power in this fall's election.

Falcon says BC United's housing plan includes rent-to-own initiative, drops taxes Victoria

Inadequate security led to federal breach that compromised Canadians' info: watchdog

The federal privacy watchdog says government departments lacked adequate protections to prevent a cyberbreach that compromised the sensitive information of tens of thousands of Canadians. In a report tabled today, privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne describes how the lapse at the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada in summer 2020 allowed hackers to fraudulently collect payments.

Inadequate security led to federal breach that compromised Canadians' info: watchdog

Business council forecasts slower growth of 0.7 per cent in B.C. ahead of budget

A new report ahead of next week's B.C. budget is forecasting slower economic growth for the province this year. The Business Council of British Columbia says "lacklustre" growth globally, high interest rates and weak private-sector job and investment numbers all add up to "a drag on prosperity" in 2024.