Boost to child benefit cheques

Families will get a boost in monthly Canadian Child Benefit (CCB) cheques thanks to an early increase from the federal government.

Jean-Vves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Development, made the announcement in Belleville Thursday during a stop at Family Space Quinte Inc.

The CCB will be increased two years ahead of schedule to keep up with the cost of living.

For the 2019–20 benefit year, the maximum CCB will be $6,639 per child under age six, and $5,602 per child aged six through 17.

“Increasing the CCB will ensure that it continues to give all Canadian families a fair chance to succeed,” said Duclos while making the announcement, alongside Bay of Quinte MP Neil Ellis, Quinte West Deputy Mayor Jim Alyea and Prince Edward County Coun. Kate MacNaughton.

For example, a single mother with two children under the age of six and an income of $30,000 will receive an additional $286 tax-free for the upcoming benefit year.
This means up to $13,278 in support every year, so parents have more money to help pay for things such as healthy food, sports programs and music lessons for their children.

“The Bay of Quinte riding is built on the hard work of middle-class parents. Many of you around the room, and so many others outside of this building work every day so hard to make our community better, but our families stronger at the same time,” Duclos said. “Child poverty is totally unacceptable in a rich country like Canada. A typical middle-class family in the Bay of Quinte now has $2,000 more in their pockets in 2019 than they had in 2015.”

Duclos said the CCB is a key element of the government’s middle-class agenda.

“In the greater Bay of Quinte area are the families of 34,000 children, who every month receive the Canada Child Benefit at an average of $660 per month on the 20th of every month, non taxable. Today’s announcement means that Canadian parents will have more money in their pockets — up to $143 more tax-free per child.

“Parents have told me how much this means when the family budget is already stretched, but their son has a growth spurt or their daughter’s day camp fees are due. Increasing the CCB once again demonstrates our government’s vital role in supporting those families who really need it most,” said Duclos.

“An increase to the CCB is another important step towards ensuring that all our kids have the very best opportunity to succeed,” said Ellis.

More than 1.3 million families in Ontario received nearly $9 billion from the CCB in the 2017–18 benefit year. he CCB replaced he Universal Child Care Benefi and the Canada Child Tax Benefit in 2016.

Across Canada between July 2017 and June 2018, more than 3.7 million families received more than $23 billion in annual Canada Child Benefit payments.

• Examples of the new indexation rates for the upcoming 2019–20 benefit year:

• A single-parent family with one child aged under the age of 6 and earning $25,000 will receive an additional $143, bringing their new yearly total benefit to $6,639.

• A two-parent family with two children aged 4 and 9 and earning $55,000 will receive an additional $354, bringing their new yearly total benefit to $9,017.

• A two-parent family with two children under the age of 6 earning $90,000 will receive an additional $263 for the upcoming benefit year, bringing their new yearly total benefit to $7,090.