Five things: What the budget means for your cost of living

OTTAWA — The federal budget contains a lot of government jargon like “supercycles” and “mega deductions” that might mean little to people struggling with the high cost of living.

Finance Minister Francois Philippe Champagne said Thursday the budget’s overarching goal is to strengthen both Canada’s sovereignty and the economy by boosting productivity rates that have sagged for decades.

The idea is that a stronger economy will help many Canadians with day-to-day affordability challenges, but there are some targeted affordability policies in the 511 page budget document.

Bigger Groceries and Essentials Benefit

The Groceries and Essential Benefit, a rebranded version of the GST credit, is one of the government’s key affordability measures. The budget proposes a one-time 50 per cent top-up to the benefit for the 2026-27 fiscal year, that will be sent to families early next year.

A similar payment was issued in June.

The budget document says this money will increase the average benefit to $339 for a qualifying single person and $679 for a couple with two children, and will increase the total annual benefit for a family to about $2,570.

The budget document says this expanded program will cost about $4.1 billion.

Help for food banks

Food affordability is one of the biggest challenges facing many households. Food banks across the country reported more than 2.3 million monthly visits in March — a grim record for a wealthy country like Canada.

The budget proposes adding $124 million over three years to the Local Food Infrastructure Fund, which helps food banks and similar organizations buy food and invest in infrastructure.

That funding is set to start in the 2027-28 fiscal year, which begins on April 1.

A plan to end homelessness

The budget lays out an ambitious housing agenda that includes building more homes on federally owned land and ending homelessness within the next 10 years.

It includes a pitch to establish an Integrated Supports Fund to set up transitional housing with mental health, addictions and social supports for homeless people. The government plans to put $1.8 billion over four years into this fund, with the goal of supplementing it with private, public and philanthropic cash.

The budget also pitches a $2 billion, two-year fund to build more crisis mental health and addictions facilities across Canada.

Plans include putting billions of dollars into the Canada Housing Benefit over the next decade to help low-income Canadians cover rent.

The budget says the plan to end homelessness will require close collaboration with provinces, territories and municipalities.

Easier to understand banking

The budget says the government plans to draft regulations that would require banks to provide customers with annual, clear statements of the fees paid on their chequing and savings accounts.

The stated goal of this change is to give Canadians all the information they need to pick the banking option that’s best for them and avoid unnecessary fees.

The government also says it will launch consultations on legislative changes aimed at focusing credit card payments at the portion of a balance with the highest interest rate. The document says this practice is already in place in Quebec.

The goal of this proposed change is to ensure payments go first to loans with the highest interest rates to help customers pay down credit card debt faster.

Changing tax day

The taxman comes for everyone eventually — starting in 2028, he’ll be checking in with most Canadians about two weeks later.

The budget proposes setting a single tax deadline of May 15 for filing 2027 returns. This would move the deadline from April 30 for most people, and from June 15 for self-employed people.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2026.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press