Message from Tony
When families are strong, so are the communities that we live and work in. That is why our government is continuing to invest in families across Canada to help them live more affordable lives.
Introduced in 2016, the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is a key part of the government’s plan to make life more affordable for Canadian families. The Canada Child Benefit has been indexed since 2018, and last year we increased the maximum amount families can receive. In 2021-2022 in Newmarket-Aurora, just under 10,000 payments were issued to families in our community, with payments totaling more than $55.2 million.
Oral health is an essential factor in good overall good health and quality of life. That is why providing dental care at an early age is critical. In November, we introduced the Canada Dental Benefit to provide parents or guardians with up to $650 tax-free per year for two years to cover dental expenses for children under 12. As of May, 740 children in our community have accessed the dental benefit. This is a significant uptake in dental care for our youth, and helps families ensure their children are taken care of affordably.
For families with young children, we are building a transformational Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system. We committed to $10-a-day childcare for Canadian families, and we are delivering on our commitment. This plan makes life more affordable for families, creates new jobs, and gets parents back into the workforce. In Newmarket and Aurora, the average savings per child each year by 2025 at $10 a day will be over $9,000 for families. We will create over 14,000 jobs across the province and allow 86,000 children province-wide to attend affordable childcare. Over 85% of organizations in Newmarket-Aurora have signed onto $10-a-day childcare. This means savings of thousands of dollars for those families to keep up with the cost of living.
With these initiatives, we continue to help deliver a better quality of life for families across Canada.
Supporting Pride Organizations
Throughout Pride Season, we must acknowledge the work we still must do as we work towards equality for all Canadians, regardless of how somebody identifies.
We’re investing $1.5 million for Fierté Canada Pride (FCP) to administer an emergency fund to help pride organizations cover the increasing security costs at Pride events.
This funding will allow the FCP to help pride organizations with the rising costs of security and insurance, and will allow for additional security resources and training to increase the capacity of volunteers and community members.
While we continue to work to support the 2SLGBTQI+ community, we are continuing to engage leaders, experts, and advocates to ensure a safer, more inclusive country for all.
Update on Wildfire Season
Recently, we’ve seen wildfires across the nation with widespread effects. We’re committed to a whole-of-government approach to supporting communities affected by wildfires.
Some of the actions we’ve taken so far include:
- Approving requests for federal assistance in Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Quebec;
- Investing to train more community-based firefighters across the country, including 300 Indigenous firefighters and 125 Indigenous fire guardians;
- Receiving hundreds of firefighters from other countries to support our efforts over the coming weeks;
- Partnering with provincial and territorial organizations and not-for-profit organizations to match funds donated by Canadians and organizations; and more.
We’re continuing to monitor the situation and provide aid wherever necessary.
Our government will always have people’s backs as we continue to keep communities safe, to rebuild, and to fight climate change.
Tobacco Products, Appearance, Packaging, and Labelling Regulations
Our government is committed to helping Canadians quit using tobacco and to protecting the health of young people and non-smokers.
We’re implementing new regulations on the appearance, packaging, and labelling on tobacco products that will require health warnings to be printed on individual cigarettes.
These regulations will come into force on August 1, 2023 and will be implemented through a phased approach. These regulations will also support Canada’s Tobacco Strategy and help drive down tobacco use in Canada to less than 5% by 2035.
Health Canada is updating the health-related labelling requirements to reflect the latest scientific evidence.
We will continue to do whatever it takes to help more people in Canada, especially young people, live healthier tobacco-free lives.
To learn more about these new regulations, visit this website.
Agricultural Clean Technology Program
We’re helping our Canadians easily adopt clean technology that will help drive the changes required to achieve a low-carbon economy.
Our Agricultural Clean Technology Program provides non-repayable grants of $25,000 to $2,000,000 to help producers acquire and install equipment that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or have other related environmental benefits.
In previous intake periods, producers have used this program to purchase more efficient grain dryers, install solar panels, or undertake hydrocarbon replacement initiatives.
Learn how to apply here.
The application period is open online until June 22, 2023.
Canada Dental and Canada Child Benefit
Our Canada Child Benefit (CCB) and our Canada Dental Benefit (CDB) are both tax-free payments to help cover the costs of dental care for children under 12 and help support families raising children under 18.
Both benefits have helped thousands of children and their families across the nation, and hundreds of children right here in Newmarket-Aurora.
Through the CDB, we’ve provided 740 children and their families with support to cover dental costs. Through the CCB, we’ve supported 9,430 Canadians and provided over $65 million in payments.
We’re committed to supporting families and helping make life more affordable.
