Beginning Friday, the Canadian Child Benefit will be raised to keep pace with the cost of living.
Locally, Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré made the announcement today.
Two years ago, the government launched the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) to help families with the high cost of raising kids. The CCB – which is targeted to middle class families and those working hard to join it – is simpler, tax-free and more generous than previous child benefit programs.
On July 17, Serré announced that the benefit will be raised, a change that comes two years ahead of schedule, as it was announced in the 2018 Federal Budget, and will give Canadian parents even more money each month to help them provide for their children.
For Nickel Belt families, this represents more than $53 million dollars in CCB payments annually which benefits approximately 16,840 children.
“Since its inception in 2016, the Canada Child Benefit has helped many families in Nickel Belt-Greater Sudbury. Having played several sports growing up, I understand how valuable sports programs and activities can be for youth. CCB allows more kids to participate in a variety of programs," said Serré.
"And now, effective July 20 more money is on the way to help parents in our community which can help cover the costs of sports programs, music lessons, child care, school uniforms; opening the door to new experiences and allowing them to discover new talents.”
Indexing the CCB sooner will ensure that it will continue to play a vital role in supporting Canadian families and reducing child poverty. This means that the CCB, for the 2018-19 benefit year, will now have a maximum annual benefit of $6,496 per child under age six and $5,481 per child age six through 17.
As an example, for a single parent with $35,000 of income with two children, the accelerated indexation of the CCB will contribute $560 towards the costs of raising his or her children, for the 2019-20 benefit year.
For this parent, this means up to $12,992 in support every year.
"Thanks to the CCB, 9 out of 10 Canadian families have more money," said a press release from Serré. "These families have received almost $2,300 more on average per year than under the programs the CCB replaced."
Since July 2016, the CCB has given more than $23 billion dollars each year to Canadian families to help pay for things like sports programs, music lessons and back-to-school clothes.
The benefit has helped lift more than half a million people - including 300,000 children - out of poverty nationwide.
You can calculate your child and/or family benefits on Canada.ca.
