Federal child benefits to be indexed to inflation sooner
Minister of Status of Women Maryam Monsef visited a day camp at the Peterborough Museum and Archives on Thursday to meet with kids and to speak to reporters about a new boost to the federal Liberals’ child benefit program.
Starting Friday, the benefit will be pegged to inflation. That wasn’t supposed to happen until 2020 under the Liberals’ original plan but the government changed its mind after outcry from anti-poverty groups.
On Thursday, some 150 MPs – including Monsef and four other cabinet ministers – held events across Canada to tout the newly boosted child benefit.
Indexing the benefit to inflation will increase program spending to about $25.1 billion by 2022, from the $23.7 billion budgeted for this fiscal year.
In the outdoor pavilion at the Museum and Archives on Thursday afternoon, children aged seven to 11 were participating in the STEAM camp (science, technology, engineering, arts and math).
When Monsef arrived, the kids were designing and building receptacles made from cardboard, plastic, tape and pipe cleaners to hold and protect a raw egg from breakage when
dropped from the top of a play structure.
Monsef sat, talked and laughed with the children as they worked on their projects. Later she told reporters that the boost to the child benefit will help thousands of kids in the riding of Peterborough-Kawartha.
“It’s helping to lift some 300,000 kids (Canada-wide) out of poverty – and we see it in action here today,” she said.
The boost means the maximum annual benefit for a child under the age of six is $6,496; for a child six to 17, it’s $5,481, states a government press release.
“Parents can choose whether they want to spend it on food, on clothing, or on camps,” Monsef said.
“We see the value of camps like this one today – kids who wouldn’t have otherwise met have a chance to work with one another.”
Enrolment in day camps has increased since the Liberals introduced their child tax benefit, Monsef said.
“It (camp) is good for families – they know their kids are in good hands,” she said. “And it’s also good for the economy: jobs are created in Peterborough-Kawartha.”
Although nearly all families in Canada receive the benefit, one in five families living on reserve doesn’t – largely due to lower tax filing rates among Indigenous families, The Canadian Press reported.
Tax returns are the basis for calculating how much a family receives under the Canada Child Benefit.
On Thursday, Monsef urged any family that isn’t receiving its money to ask for help at her office.
It needn’t be onerous, she said: Curve Lake First Nation is in her riding, and Monsef said her staff goes there once a month to offer on-reserve services.
Monsef added that she’s aware of cases where families haven’t been collecting their money for awhile -and they’ve found they can access thousands of dollars in backdated benefits.
“I encourage all families with kids who are not receiving these benefits to call my office, or drop by, or send an email – we’ll be more than happy to help you get the benefits you’re entitled to.”