Budget 2024

Budget 2024: Supporting Generational Fairness and Working with Our City 

Budget 2024 is our government’s plan to make Canada fair for every generation, by building more homes, making life cost less, and growing the economy with innovation. Over the past few weeks, leading to the tabling of the budget, I had the opportunity to participate in numerous announcements:

• I joined Mayor Olivia Chow, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Housing Minister, Sean Fraser, and others, to announce a top-off of over $15 Billion to the Apartment Construction Loan Program in the upcoming Budget 2024. With this new funding, the Apartment Construction Loan Program is on track to help build over 131,000 new rental homes by 2031-31.  

• On April 4, a new $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund was launched, which will help non-profit organizations secure rental units and ensure they remain affordable.  

• At the beginning of the month, we announced a new National School Food Program. This will be invested over five years, with the target of providing meals to 400,000 more kids every year. Coalition for Healthy School Food and Breakfast Club Canada have advocated tirelessly for years to see this happen and I was happy to celebrate with them in Ottawa.

• There have also been extensive expansions to childcare, by providing loans and grants to public and not-for-profit childcare providers to build new spaces and renovate existing spaces, with the new Child Care Expansion Load Program. Additionally, we will be expanding the Canada Student Loan Forgiveness to include early childhood educators who choose to relocate to rural and remote areas. As well, we will be investing in training more early childhood educators.  

• As well, our government is making investments to support the mental health of young people. Last week, we announced a $500-million fund to help community health organizations provide more mental health care to youth. 

Investing in Toronto 

I’d like to also highlight funding from Budget 2024 that invests specifically in our city:

• $300 million to support health care in Toronto. 

• $471 million to fast-track new homes and build over 60,00 new units in the city. 

• Investing $13 billion in Toronto’s public transit system. 

To learn more about Budget 2024, please see here. 

Celebrating Greek Independence Day: Greek Prime Minister’s visit to Canada & Danforth Parade 

From March 23 to March 25, His Excellency Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece visited Canada. This was a historic visit, marking the first time in four decades that a sitting Greek Prime Minister has visited Canada. Throughout his visit, Prime Minister Mitsotakis travelled to Montreal and Toronto, where he celebrated Greek Independence Day, met with member of the business community and the Greek-Canadian Diaspora, and delivered a keynote address titled “Greece and Canada Moving Forward Together” at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Overall, this visit was a testament to the enduring friendship between Greece and Canada, symbolizing deepening ties between our two countries. To read more about this visit, please see here. 

As well, on April 7, I joined the Greek community of Toronto to celebrate Greek Independence Day. It is a day to commemorates the liberation of Greece from the Ottoman Empire and is an opportunity to recognize the contributions of Greek Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast. ΖΗΤΩ Η ΕΛΛΑΣ! Long live Greece! 

Carbon Pricing 

I have had many questions about carbon pricing. This letter signed by hundreds of economists from across our country sets out that carbon pricing reduces emissions, has negligible impacts on inflation and that other options would be less more costly: An Open Letter from Economists on Canadian Carbon Pricing | Ecofiscal 

You should have received your carbon rebate deposits which started arriving as April 15. Economists, including the Parliamentary Budget Officer and Trevor Toombe from the University of Calgary, have found that the federal carbon price & rebate leaves most Canadians further ahead. For more information, please see here.

Canada Music Fund Announcement  

On March 24, Minister St Onge announced $32 million in funding over the next two years to support the Canadian Music Fund. This investment will not only provide crucial support for Canadian artists but also offer relief to music companies and organizations facing financial pressures. It’s a significant step in modernizing the Canada Music Fund since its announcement in Budget 2019. To learn more about this announcement, please see here. 

Yours,

Julie

Julie Dabrusin

Member of Parliament for Toronto–Danforth