Freeland tables her fourth federal budget — this time with a tight focus on housing
CBC
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will table her fourth federal budget today, laying out the government's plan to spend billions of dollars on housing to improve supply — a plan the Liberals also hope will boost their prospects with a crucial group of voters.
Unlike past budgets, which mostly saved their announcements for budget day itself, this one has been publicized piecemeal. Freeland, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Housing Minister Sean Fraser and other cabinet ministers have been touring the country for weeks, releasing details of key budget measures.
It's part of a plan to pitch voters on key new programs that otherwise might have been buried in today's news coverage of a budget document that's expected to be physically bigger than in years' past.
Freeland will table the budget around 4 p.m. ET. CBCNews.ca will carry her remarks in the House of Commons live.
Ottawa has announced roughly $38 billion in new financial commitments — including $17 billion in loan-based programs — before the budget's release.
How the federal government intends to pay for all that new spending isn't clear yet. Sources have told Radio-Canada that the budget will impose a tax increase on the richest taxpayers — one that senior Liberal sources say will affect less than 1 per cent of Canadians.
Some of the planned new spending is earmarked for future fiscal years — a manoeuvre that will give Ottawa some fiscal breathing room.
The economy is also marginally stronger than Ottawa initially projected, which could mean higher revenue to offset some of the planned new spending.
Polls continue to suggest the government is polling underwater with house-hunting voters — particularly those in the millennial and Generation Z cohorts.
In response, Freeland has freed up money to send more cash to municipalities through the housing accelerator fund, build more homes on underused public lands, cut cheques for new water and solid waste infrastructure in growing communities, offer tens of billions of dollars in loans to spur new rental construction and secondary suites, and help non-profits acquire existing rental homes and keep them affordable.
The government's 28-page housing plan, unveiled last week, promises to maintain the already well-subscribed tax-free savings account, extend mortgage amortization terms and increase the RRSP withdrawal limit for some first-home buyers, among other measures.
It's a dizzying array of new commitments meant to blunt the attacks of critics like Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who has made housing the centrepiece of his policy playbook.
Speaking to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce on Monday, Trudeau said millennials and members of Generation Z, the people who now make up a majority of the country's workforce, need a hand up as they grapple with "a cost of living crisis."
"This is a resilient group but ... they now feel like middle class stability is out of reach," he said. "We need to meet this moment. Our country cannot succeed unless young people succeed."
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