HALIFAX, NS, April 6, 2023 /CNW/ - Today the Minister of Veterans Affairs, the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, visited Bedford Basin Farmers Market to highlight Budget 2023's investments and affordability measures like the new Grocery Rebate, addressing junk fees and a new First-Time-Home-Buyer Savings Account to help Canadians with the rising cost of living.
Canada has made a remarkable recovery from the COVID recession. Canada's economic growth was the strongest in the G7 over the last year, and today, 830,000 more Canadians are employed than before the pandemic, including 28,100 here in Nova Scotia. Inflation in Canada has fallen for eight months straight, our unemployment rate is near its record low, and, supported by our Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care, the labour force participation rate for women aged 25 to 54 reached at a record high of 85.7 per cent in February.
Budget 2023 builds on this important progress.
To make life more affordable, Budget 2023 delivers the new Grocery Rebate, offering targeted inflation relief for 11 million Canadians and families who need it most with up to an additional $467 for eligible couples with children; an additional $234 for single Canadians without children; and an additional $225 for seniors, on average. The government is also taking action to crack down on junk fees and predatory lending, lower credit card transaction fees for small businesses, and help Canadians keep more money in their pockets.
To strengthen Canada's universal public health care system, the budget delivers $198.3 billion, including $5.016 billion here in Nova Scotia 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. Budget 2023 also introduces a new Canadian Dental Care Plan, to help up to nine million Canadians and ensure no Canadian has to choose between taking care of their health and paying the bills at the end of the month.
To build Canada's clean economy, the budget makes transformative investments to fight climate change and create new opportunities for Canadian businesses and workers. This includes significant measures that will deliver cleaner and more affordable energy, support investment in our communities, and create good-paying jobs.
With a responsible fiscal plan that will see Canada maintain the lowest deficit and the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, Budget 2023 will help to build a Canada that is more secure, more sustainable, and more affordable for people from coast to coast to coast.
"Farmers markets like this one provide much more than just groceries, they are meeting places and pillars of local small businesses and agriculture. Budget 2023 will help Canadian families put good food on the table with the new Grocery Rebate, and it will address too-high credit card fees so small businesses can keep their costs down. Our Made-in-Canada plan will make life more affordable, enhance public health care, and create a more robust, more sustainable, and more secure Canadian economy for everyone."
Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Veterans Affairs
"Even with inflation cooling, the high prices for supermarket staples are still stretching household budgets across the country. Through the one-time grocery rebate we have proposed in Budget 2023, thousands of my constituents will receive extra support to keep the fridge full and the pantry stocked. That's hundreds of dollars more for the average family, student, and senior in Halifax West to help make ends meet."
Lena Metlege Diab, Member of Parliament for Halifax West
- Budget 2023: A Made-in-Canada Plan: Strong Middle Class, Affordable Economy, Healthy Future
- Budget 2023: Address by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
- Backgrounder: Stronger Public Health Care
- Backgrounder: Making Life More Affordable
- Backgrounder: An Affordable Place to Call Home
- Backgrounder: A Made-in-Canada Plan: Affordable Energy, Good Jobs, and a Growing Clean Economy
- Backgrounder: Advancing Reconciliation
- Backgrounder: Stronger and More Inclusive Communities
- Backgrounder: Improving Service Delivery
SOURCE Veterans Affairs Canada
Media may contact: Erika Lashbrook Knutson, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Association Minister of Defence, [email protected], 343-550-6093
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