Fairness For Younger Generations

In Budget 2024, the government is helping to restore fairness for every generation by unlocking access to post-secondary education; investing in the skills of tomorrow; and creating new opportunities for younger Canadians to get the skills they need to get good jobs.

• Launching a bold strategy to unlock 3.87 million new homes by 2031, which includes a minimum of 2 million net new homes on top of the 1.87 million homes expected to be built anyway by 2031. Of the 2 million net new homes, the government's actions would support a minimum of 1.2 million net new homes.
• Extending increased student grants and interest-free loans at an estimated total cost of $1.1 billion this year. We have already helped 638,000 low- and middle-income students every year, on average, since 2016 to pursue their education, regardless of their background. The extension of increased grants will support 587,000 students and increased interest-free loans will support 652,000 students, with a combined $7.3 billion for the upcoming academic year.^{Footnote 1}
• Helping students with the cost of housing by updating the formula that is used by the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program to calculate housing costs when determining financial need, to reflect the cost of housing today. This will deliver more student aid for rent to approximately 79,000 students each year at an estimated cost of $154.6 million over five years.
• Building more student housing by relaxing eligibility conditions for the removal of GST on new student residences for not-for-profit universities, public colleges, and school authorities. Building more student housing is good for young people, and makes sure there is a fair rental market for everyone by also reducing demand on existing housing supply in adjacent communities.
• Giving renters credit for on-time rental payments, by calling on banks, fintechs, credit bureaus, and landlords to allow renters to use their rent payment history to improve their credit score, making it easier to get a mortgage, and maybe even at a lower rate.
• A Canadian Renters' Bill of Rights, to be developed with provinces and territories, to help protect renters from steep rent hikes and renovictions, standardize leases, and require landlords to share rent price history with potential new tenants.
• Supporting young entrepreneurs by proposing $60 million for Futurpreneur Canada, which has already helped over 17,700 young entrepreneurs to launch more than 13,900 businesses across the country. This renewed investment will enable an estimated 6,250 additional businesses owned by young people.
• Creating more jobs for Gen Z by providing $207.6 million for the Student Work Placement Program to create more work-integrated learning opportunities for post-secondary students and help businesses attract and train skilled and trained individuals, addressing a significant challenge-finding the right talent.
• Creating 90,000 youth job placements and employment support opportunities by proposing $351.2 million to provide well-paying summer job opportunities through Canada Summer Jobs and provide job placements and employment supports through the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy.
• Launching a new Youth Mental Health Fund to ensure that younger generations have the access they need to mental health supports so that they can have a healthy start to adulthood. We are proposing an investment of $500 million to ensure youth have access to mental health supports in their community.
• Helping students acquire coding skills by advancing the next phase of CanCode, with an investment of $39.2 million. CanCode has helped over 4.5 million students-from kindergarten through grade 12-to develop coding and digital skills, priming kids for success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
• Supporting after-school learning with a proposed investment of $67.5 million to help all Canadian students reach their full potential. After-school learning and supports play an important role in helping students succeed in their academic pursuits, especially for at-risk students.
• Ensuring a brighter and more prosperous future for First Nations children, youth, and communities with a proposed new investment of $1.2 billion in First Nations' kindergarten to grade 12 education and $242.7 million to increase access to post-secondary education for First Nations students.
• Supporting Indigenous communities that are reclaiming jurisdiction over child and family services, ensuring that Indigenous children and youth grow up in their communities, tied to their cultural identities, and achieve better outcomes by proposing $1.8 billion to support communities in exercising jurisdiction and $167.5 million to ensure Inuit children can access the health, social, and educational services they need, when they need them.

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Quebec, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, which do not participate in the federal program, can receive funding to provide their own comparable support.

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