As most of us have now become aware of the new government for Canada is focusing on the middle class. They have created a lot of promotional material and spoken a great deal about this through the election platform. It has also become evident of the ways that they are going about this with the latest budget. Part of growing the middle class means they want to strengthen this segment of Canadian citizens. The government has become so focused on this that they have actually drafted a plan called a New Plan For Strong Middle Class Real Change which is comprised of 88 pages.
Some of the highlights focus on our economic security. The idea here is to see that more of these individuals have more money that they are able to invest, which in turn wall grow the economy. One of the ways of that they are approaching this is with the new Canada Child benefit
Then there will be a tax cut from 22% it down to 20.5% for the middle income tax earners. This is a 7% tax reduction and will affect those at that have an annual income between $44,700 to $89,401. It averages out to about $1340 for two income households.
Affordable housing is going to be another area to be focused upon. They government is going to do this with a 10 year investment commitment in social infrastructure. One of the ways they are going to tackle this is by removing the GST on new capital investments that are being geared towards affordable rental housing. This provides $125 million per year in tax incentives to encourage this type of investment. There will also be some changes in the homebuyers plan for the better.
Post secondary education is also on the agenda for middle-class students
One of the most important factors for the residents of Ontario is going to revolve around the new health accord. In the Ontario budget many seniors got slapped with an increase in their payment for drugs. The federal government is saying that they’re going to make prescription drugs more affordable as well as increase the availability of home care and mental health. The plan here is that the government is going to collaborate with the provincial governments to buy drugs in bulk making them more affordable.
Then there is going to be a fight against poverty for both the children and seniors. This in part is where the Canada Child benefit will come into and the increase of the guaranteed income supplement for low income seniors.
These are some of the major ways of strengthening the middle class by putting more money in the middle income pockets. In part two we will continue on with how the government is going to strengthen the middle-class with economic security and job creation.
