Canada Announces Automatic Federal Benefits For 5.5 Million Low-Income Citizens, Makes School Food Program Permanent

2025-10-10 03:17:04

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Ahead of the beginning of the holiday season in Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced Automatic Federal Benefits for 5.5 million low-income citizens and made National School Food Program permanent. He also announced that the Canadian government was reintroducing Canada Strong Pass for the holiday season and next summer.

Emphasising that the new measures will lower costs, Mark Carney said,“Canada's new government is focused on bringing your costs down. Today, we're announcing the launch of Automatic Federal Benefits for up to 5.5 million low-income Canadians, we're making our National School Food Program permanent, and we're bringing back the Canada Strong Pass for the holiday season and next summer.”

What Canada PM announced: Key measures

Canada has announced that it was starting automatic federal benefits for the 2026 tax year that will reach up to 5.5 million low-income Canadians by the 2028 tax year.
*The CRA will automatically file these individuals' taxes to ensure they receive all government benefits they qualify for, such as the GST/HST credit, the Canada Child Benefit, the Canada Disability Benefit, and more.

Canada has also made the National School Food Program permanent.
*Under this program, free meals would be provided to up to 400,000 children.
*This program will save Canadian families with two children $800 per year on groceries. Also Read | Canadian PM Mark Carney calls Trump 'transformative president' for bringing 'peace' between India, Pakistan
*By making it permanent, The Candian government will work with provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners to expand the program into more schools across Canada.

Canada Strong Pass for the holidays and for summer 2026 has also been reintroduced. This will help children and young families travel around Canada with lower costs.
*It will be renewed from December 12, 2025, to January 15, 2026, and then again for summer 2026.
*This also helps students travelling home for the holidays with a 25 per cent discount on VIA Rail for young adults aged 18 to 24.
*With the Canada Strong Pass, Canadians can visit national, provincial, and territorial museums, historic sites, parks, and travel by rail for free or at a reduced cost. Also Read | Trump Justifies U.S. Tariffs On Canada During PM Carney's White House Visit

The Canadian prime minister also said that Budget 2025 will spend less on government operations and reduce waste,“so we can invest more to grow our economy and to protect the programs that make life more affordable for you.”

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