Parents can apply today for the Canada Dental Benefit to provide dental care for their children. This measure is intended to partially alleviate the increase in the cost of living for low-income Canadians.
This program is available to children under the age of 12 whose household earned less than $90,000 in annual income. Each child may be entitled to an amount varying between $260 and $650 depending on the level of net family income.
A non-recurring supplement of $500 paid to low-income households announced this fall should also be available as of December 12.
Then, a change to the Labor Code requiring federal employers to provide employees with two weeks of sick leave also goes into effect on Thursday 1er december.
At the end of the month, workers who have been employed by a company continuously for at least 30 days will be entitled to a first tranche of three days of paid sick leave. They will then accumulate one additional day per month up to a maximum of ten days per year.
The NDP fought hard for the dental program and mandatory sick leave as part of its deal to keep the minority Liberal government in power until 2025.
In a statement Wednesday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh promised that this was just a first step. His party intends to continue to fight for comprehensive dental care for Canadians through public health care.
Pressed by questions in the House about the rising cost of living, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland highlighted the dental program this week as an example of a measure to ease the burden on families.
For the Conservative opposition, which voted against the program, these Liberal benefits represent only a drop in the bucket compared to the costs borne by Canadians due to inflation.
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