KENORA – NEWS – “With a strong focus on seniors, skills training, and housing, this budget focuses on ensuring Canada continues to build a strong and vibrant middle class,” states Nault. “Investments in FedNor, affordable housing, accessible healthcare, and ongoing investments in our Indigenous communities, demonstrate a strong commitment to the northern and rural Canadians. Budget 2017 makes smart and responsible investments that will provide Canadians with good, well-paying jobs and opportunities in the new, innovative economy.”
Budget 2017 highlights include:
Northern Ontario and Rural Canada
- Improving access to primary care and mental health services, home and palliative care, and greater support for maternal and child health for First Nations and Inuit, through an investment of $828.2M over five years
- Investing in a broad range of infrastructure projects that meet the unique needs of rural and northern communities – through an investment of $2B over 11 years
- Making home internet access more affordable for low-income families and to provide them with computers, under an Affordable Access Program, through an investment of $13.2M over five years, starting in 2017-18
- Supporting early-stage mineral exploration through an extension of the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit for flow-through share investors for an additional year, until March 31, 2018.
- $2B over 11years to support a broad range of infrastructure projects to meet the unique needs of rural and northern communities.
- $7B over 10 years, starting in 2018-19 to support and create more high quality, affordable childcare spaces across the country
- $1.8B over 10 years starting in 2018-19 for cultural and recreational infrastructure
FedNor
- $25M increase in FedNor over the next 5 years, at $5M increase per year, showcasing this government’s commitment to Northern Ontario. This brings FedNor’s total annual budget to $46 million dollars.
Middle Class Families
- $6B over 10 years for home care and $5B over 10 years to support mental health initiatives for provinces and territories that accepted the federal offer. These targeted investments have the potential to make a real difference in the lives of all Canadians
- $886.4M over five years and $204.8M per year ongoing, to make Employment Insurance, caregiving, parental and maternity benefits more flexible for families.
Health Care
- In 2017-18, the Government will provide over $37.1B to the provinces and territories, under the Canada Health Transfer. This year’s funding – an increase of approximately $1.1B from last year – will provide long-term, predictable and growing funding to our provincial and territorial partners.
- Over the next five years, the Canada Health Transfer amounts provided to provinces and territories are expected to total approximately $200B to support the health and well-being of Canadians
Seniors
- $3.2B over the next 11 years to provinces and territories for a renewed federal-provincial-territorial partnership in housing to support key priorities for affordable house
- $5B over the next 11 years for a new National Housing Fund, administered through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CHMC) to address critical housing issues and prioritize support for vulnerable citizens, including seniors
- $6B over the next 10 years to improve access to home care services for provinces and territories that accepted the federal offer, that will allow seniors who would prefer to receive their medical care at home or in a community-based setting to be able to do so.
Housing & Infrastructure
- As a part of a new National Housing Strategy, the Government will invest more than $11.2B in a range of initiatives designed to build, renew, and repair Canada’s stock of affordable housing and help to ensure that Canadians have adequate and affordable housing that meets their needs. This includes $225M to improve housing conditions for Indigenous Peoples not living on-reserve.
- New investments of $21.9B over 11 years to support social infrastructure in Canadian communities
Advancing Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples
- Providing the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy (ASETS) to help them meet the growing demand from Indigenous Peoples for skills development and job training, through an investment of $50M in 2017-18
- Protecting, preserving, and revitalizing Indigenous languages and cultures through an investment of $89.9M over the next three years
- Supporting post-secondary scholarships for over 12,000 Indigenous students, through an investment of $25M over five years from Indspire, with additional leveraging from the private sector of $15M
- The First Nations Policing Program provides investments to support policing in Indigenous communities. Budget 2017 proposes to provide an investment of $81.6M over five years, starting in 2018-19, to address the most immediate needs of Indigenous police forces, while the government examines ways to increase the effectiveness of this program.
