{"id":637413,"date":"2026-04-30T00:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T00:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/637413\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T00:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T00:10:09","slug":"what-actually-matters-to-your-personal-finances-in-ottawas-spring-economic-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/637413\/","title":{"rendered":"What actually matters to your personal finances in Ottawa\u2019s spring economic update"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Finance and National Revenue Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne holds up the book of the spring economic update in the House of Commons on Tuesday.Sean Kilpatrick\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Okay, let\u2019s face it. No one tunes into a federal economic update expecting a party. And to be sure, Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne didn\u2019t throw one on Tuesday. There were no big income tax cuts or surpluses to announce. What we got instead was a handful of targeted measures \u2013 mostly modest and unglamorous \u2013 and easy to miss amid the headlines about sovereign wealth funds and defence spending. Still, there were some things that could be worth real money to Canadians. So, let\u2019s talk about what actually matters for your personal finances. <\/p>\n

First-time homebuyers<\/p>\n

It used to be that withdrawing funds from your RRSP under the Home Buyers\u2019 Plan (HBP) required you to start repaying your RRSP two years after making your first withdrawal. That grace period was extended to five years for withdrawals made between 2022 and 2025. The economic update this week extends the five-year grace period for withdrawals made in 2026, 2027 or 2028. This will give you a little more breathing room if you tap into your RRSP to buy a home. You can withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP under the HBP. You have to be a first-time home buyer to qualify (which means you \u2013 or your spouse \u2013 have not owned a home in the year of withdrawal or the preceding four calendar years). <\/p>\n

Canada Pension Plan<\/p>\n

This measure isn\u2019t life-changing, but it\u2019s something. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, the base CPP contribution rate is set to drop to 9.5 per cent from 9.9 per cent. If you earn around $70,000 annually, that works out to about $133 extra in your pocket each year. Your employer saves the same amount. Think of it as a minor raise. Use this as a reminder that the CPP is there, and can supplement your income in retirement, but won\u2019t fully meet your needs. <\/p>\n

Opinion: The takeaway from the spring fiscal update? Your answer will have to wait until the fall budget<\/a><\/p>\n

Disability tax credit<\/p>\n

This change deserves more attention than it\u2019ll probably get. The Disability Tax Credit is one of the most valuable and most underused tax credits in the country, partly because the application process has historically been a bureaucratic headache. The economic update proposes to streamline the process for people with a formal diagnosis of certain long-lasting conditions, and it expands the list of medical professionals who can certify eligibility to include podiatrists, physiotherapists, speech-language pathologists, and occupational therapists. Why does this matter? Because the DTC is a gateway to other benefits like the Canada Disability Benefit, the Child Disability Benefit, and the Registered Disability Savings Plan, which comes with federal grants and bonds attached. If you have a family member who might qualify and you\u2019ve been putting off the paperwork, now\u2019s the time to revisit it.<\/p>\n

Trades and apprentices<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re thinking of a skilled trade as a career, there are new apprenticeship grants, including a $400-per-week income top-up during in-class training and a $5,000 bonus for completing a Red Seal certification. The government is clearly trying to make the trades more financially attractive since there\u2019s a shortage of these workers. And if you\u2019re a tradesperson or apprentice who relocates temporarily for construction work, the Labour Mobility Deduction just got an upgrade. The cap on deductible relocation expenses jumps to $10,000 from $4,000 for 2026, with indexation going forward. The qualifying distance threshold also gets relaxed slightly, to 120 kilometres from 150 kilometres.<\/p>\n

Life affordability<\/p>\n

The old GST Credit has been rebranded as the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, and it\u2019s getting a boost \u2013 up 25 per cent for five years starting this July. A family of four could receive up to $1,890 this year, and a single person could see up to $950. This one is largely automatic if you file your taxes, which is exactly the point: if you haven\u2019t filed recently \u2013 even if you have little or no income \u2013 file anyway. Your tax return triggers the benefit.<\/p>\n

Spring economic update: Nine highlights, from CPP contribution cuts to new sports spending<\/a><\/p>\n

No tax cuts on the horizon<\/p>\n

While the government was quick to say that the federal deficit projected in this economic update is $11-billion lower than the figure published in the budget last November, the fact remains that the deficit is still $25-billion higher than last announced by the Trudeau government in 2024. It\u2019s also true that our federal debt amounts to about $1.41-trillion (according to the November budget documents) and the interest alone on the debt is costing Canadians almost $60-billion annually. That\u2019s about $1.1-billion per week \u2013 and growing. More than one dollar of every 10 collected in taxes goes to pay interest and is not used for other priorities. The bottom line? Until the gap closes between revenues and government spending, don\u2019t expect meaningful tax relief on the horizon. This means that diligence in doing the little things right to ensure you\u2019re not paying more in taxes than you should is critical.<\/p>\n

Tim Cestnick, FCPA, FCA, CPA(IL), CFP, TEP, is an author, and co-founder and CEO of Our Family Office Inc. He can be reached at tim@ourfamilyoffice.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Finance and National Revenue Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne holds up the book of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-637413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}