Federal budget addresses health care, dental plan, ‘grocery rebate’

As was the case a week earlier in the Saskatchewan budget, health care was one of the main focuses when the federal budget was released Tuesday.

The budget is calling for spending of nearly $491 billion in the 2023-24 fiscal year, with the deficit now set to reach $40.1 billion.

Over the next five years, the government expects to increase spending by nearly $60 billion. That means the government no longer expects to be able to balance the books by the 2027-28 fiscal year, as was projected in the fiscal update last fall.

According to a media release, the budget includes $198.3 billion in health-care spending “to reduce backlogs, expand access to family health services and ensure provinces and territories can provide the high quality and timely health care Canadians expect and deserve.”

The government is to provide $49.4 billion in health-care funding to the provinces and territories in the 2023-24 fiscal year.

The budget also featured $13 billion over five years for the government’s proposed dental-care insurance program. That’s more than double what the Liberals originally thought it would cost.

A new government-administered dental insurance plan will begin with people under the age of 18, seniors and people with disabilities who don’t have insurance and are at a household income level of less than $90,000.

The dental program is the linchpin of the Liberals’ confidence-and-supply deal with the NDP to prevent an election before 2025.

To help Canadians in the fight against inflation, the government is providing a one-time doubling of GST rebates to help low-income earners. The so-called “grocery rebate” is to cost $2.5 billion.

The government is creating new tax credits for clean energy and electricity through to the 2034-35 fiscal year at a cost of $83 billion. The credits are part of Ottawa’s goal to develop Canada’s green economy through electricity and critical minerals.

The budget includes $4 billion over seven years on an urban, rural and northern Indigenous housing strategy, to begin in the 2024-25 fiscal year. However, only $1.9 billion is expected to be spent in the next five years.

The federal government says $14 per $100 will be the new maximum amount that payday lenders can charge people for the amount they borrow. The government also plans to lower the maximum interest rates those lenders can charge to an annual percentage rate of 35 per cent.

There’s $56 million in spending over five years for what the government called “protecting diaspora communities and all Canadians from foreign interference, threats and covert activities.”

Given recent concerns about China’s possible interference in federal elections, the RCMP will get money to investigate foreign interference allegations. As well, Public Safety Canada will set up a new National Counter-Foreign Interference Office to respond to any attempted meddling by foreign powers.

The government also revealed it plans to amend the Canada Labour Code to prohibit the use of replacement workers during a strike or lockout, fulfilling another commitment the Liberals made to the NDP in the parties’ supply-and-confidence agreement.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland expects to find $15 billion in savings over five years by scaling back government travel and the government’s use of outside consultants, and through a review of departmental spending.

— With files from The Canadian Press