Federal Budget 2024: Other Measures

Housing Plan

Budget 2024 included a variety of proposed initiatives to stimulate home construction. In addition to tax-related measures discussed elsewhere in this document, a variety of non-tax measures were proposed, including the following:

  • first-time homebuyers will be permitted to obtain CMHC-insured mortgages with a 30-year amortization period if they purchase a newly built home, commencing August 1, 2024;
  • the Canada Mortgage Charter will include an expectation that permanent amortization relief will be provided to allow existing homeowners to reduce their payments by extending their mortgage term in order to facilitate homeowners being able to retain their homes; and
  • expanded efforts will be undertaken to unlock government-owned real estate to be used for home construction, including the use of land held by the Department of National Defense and converting underused federal offices into homes.

Canada Pension Plan (CPP)

Budget 2024 proposed to coordinate with provincial partners to make amendments to the CPP, including the following:

  • enhance the death benefit for certain contributors;
  • add a children’s benefit for part-time students whose parent is deceased;
  • extend eligibility for children’s benefits where a disabled parent reaches age 65; and
  • end eligibility for survivor’s benefits to people who are legally separated after a division of pensionable earnings.

Canada Disability Benefit

Budget 2024 provided additional details on the launch of the Canada disability benefit. Payments under this benefit are intended to commence in July 2025, following the successful completion of the regulatory process and consultations with persons with disabilities. A maximum annual benefit of $2,400 would be available to low-income persons between the ages of 18 and 64 eligible for the disability tax credit. The benefit is expected to support over 600,000 individuals.

Student Loan Forgiveness

Forgiveness of student loans for health care and social services professionals working in rural or remote areas would be expanded from its current coverage of, doctors and nurses to also be available to early childhood educators, dentists, dental hygienists, pharmacists, midwives, teachers, social workers, personal support workers, physiotherapists and psychologists.

Canada Learning Bond

The Canada learning bond is a government contribution of up to $2,000 per year to registered education savings plans (RESPs) for children in low-income families. In order to increase the receipt of these amounts, Budget 2024 proposed the following initiatives:

  • commencing with children born in 2024, RESPs would be opened automatically for children eligible for these payments in the year they turn four years of age;
  • caregivers of older children eligible for these payments will be permitted to apply for the creation of a similar RESP, and the automatic deposit of these funds; and
  • the maximum age to retroactively claim the Canada learning bond will be increased to 30 from 20.

Charities and Qualified Donees

Budget 2024 proposed several amendments relating to the charitable sector, including the following:

  • modernizing the way in which CRA provides services and communicates information relating to registered charities and other qualified donees;
  • amending certain rules for qualifying foreign charities;
  • removing the requirement that official donation receipts contain:
    • the place of issuance of the receipt;
    • the name and address of the appraiser, if an appraisal of the donated property has been done; and
    • the middle initial of the donor; and
  • updating the regulations to expressly permit charities to issue official donation receipts electronically, provided that they contain all required information, they are issued in a secure and non-editable format and the charity maintains an electronic copy of the receipts.

The above measures, other than those related to foreign charities, apply upon royal assent.

Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Funding

Additional funding will be provided to CRA for initiatives including the following:

  • ongoing efforts to identify non-compliance in real estate transactions;
  • pilot new automatic filing services SimpleFile Digital and SimpleFile by Paper to increase filings by low-income taxpayers; and
  • improve the efficiency of its call centres.

Consultations and Reviews

Budget 2024 also announced the following areas proposed to be reviewed, some with formal consultations:

  • modernizing the scientific research & experimental development tax incentive program, with an intention to increase annual funding by $150 million;
  • implementing a tax on residentially zoned vacant land; and
  • issuing draft legislation to limit non-sufficient funds (NSF) charges to $10, and restrict their application in various other ways.