Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for photos in Toronto on Nov. 7. While his budget extended EI benefits and renewed commitments to first-time homebuyers, it lacked new investment that could benefit youth in some sectors.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney promised “generational investments” in his government’s first federal budget. But the spending plan, which was tabled last week, did not follow through on every election promise aimed at easing affordability pressures facing young Canadians.
While the budget extended employment insurance benefits and renewed commitments to tax cuts for first-time homebuyers, it lacked new investment in pharmacare and reneged on previous commitments to fertility funding, for example.
As the year comes to a close, young Canadians continue to take on crushing mortgages, Gen Z faces record-high unemployment rates, and many are delaying or abandoning efforts to start a family or purchase a home.
Amid these mounting pressures, here’s what the Liberals’ fiscal blueprint hit and missed in terms of pocketbook issues for young Canadians.
Employment Insurance benefits
The budget pledged billions in insurance benefits and aid for trade-exposed sectors such as manufacturing, but offered little support for sectors that rely heavily on young workers, said Armine Yalnizyan, a Canadian economist and Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers.
She highlighted retail as one of the most job-rich sectors in the country, adding that “it is heavily and disproportionately represented by young people.”
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The government also announced plans to extend employment insurance parental benefits by eight weeks in the event of the death of a child, a move that comes long overdue for many advocates such as Jennifer Bazinet, the chair of the board of directors for Baby’s Breath Canada.
The policy change landed personally for Ms. Bazinet. After her son’s death in 2020, she says she was told by Service Canada to look into disability payments since she was no longer eligible for parental benefits, having just passed the maternity leave threshold.
“It’s refreshing… to see the government recognizing that returning to work after such a tragedy is difficult in and of itself, let alone the financial burden that can go with it,” Ms. Bazinet said.
Housing affordability
The Carney government reaffirmed its election pledge to eliminate GST for first-time buyers on homes at or under $1-million and invest $13-billion to double the pace of construction through its new Build Canada Homes agency.
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But the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, a lobby group, said Ottawa missed an opportunity to expand GST relief to all buyers of new homes and on renovations that add housing units, such as secondary suites. The group argues that could help seniors who are downsizing and free up availability of family-oriented housing.
Critics have also questioned the feasibility of the federal government’s goal of accelerating housing construction if it doesn’t address red tape and high taxes on developers, which the CHBA said increased by 700 per cent over the last two decades.
Education, training and employment
The federal government has promised more than $1.5-billion over the next three years to help young Canadians with training and employment. That includes about $635-million over three years for a work placement program for postsecondary students, and around $595-million over two years to support 100,000 summer jobs for youth.
Notably absent from the budget was any mention of the apprenticeship grant – which would have covered training costs of up to $8,000 – that Mr. Carney had promised during his campaign. Ms. Yalnizyan called the omission disappointing given that the government allocated more than $1-billion to attract foreign talent to Canadian universities over the next year 13 years, starting this year.
In contrast, the budget set aside $75-million over three years, starting in 2026-27, for Employment and Social Development Canada to expand the Union Training and Innovation Program.
“This is money for attracting the best and the brightest. It will not guarantee that that money even stays in Canada,” Ms. Yalnizyan said.
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There’s also worry that a federal cap on international enrolment may stabilize housing but leave institutions financially vulnerable without additional funding. This would worsen tuition pressures for domestic students, said Katherine Scott, a senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
“Funding for postsecondary institutions in Canada is really on the ropes right now,” she said.
However, Ms. Scott commended the federal government’s plan to curb funding that supports for-profit schools with a track record of exploiting international students.
In a move that promised to save $1-billion over four years, the federal government said it would narrow access to the Canada Student Grant for Full-Time Students to only those attending public educational or not-for-profit private institutions within Canada and public institutions abroad.
Pharmacare and IVF
Another notable absence in Tuesday’s budget was any mention of funding for pharmacare – a publicly-funded insurance program for medications.
The pharmacare framework is based on agreements with provinces and around 80 per cent of Canadians are not covered by current agreements with Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Yukon. Since the government has not attached new funds in the budget, it indicates that there aren’t plans for additional agreements as of now.
“Young people are facing really tough financial times and we need to pay for birth control and diabetes drugs,” said Frédérique Chabot, executive director of Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights.
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During the election campaign, the Liberals also pledged to make access to an abortion fund permanent and cover up to $20,000 per round of IVF treatments.
These measures were not mentioned in the budget. More than half of Canadians aged 18 to 34 said the housing crisis affected their decision to start a family, according to a 2023 survey by Abacus Data.
Ms. Chabot noted that some of that funding could come later. The federal Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund, created in 2021 under Health Canada to improve access to contraception, abortion and fertility care, remains active until 2027 and wasn’t up for renewal this year.