Submitted by Yasir Naqvi, MP for Ottawa Centre
September always brings mixed feelings for me — with a slight chill in the air I know that summer is coming to an end, but at the same time I am thrilled that my kids are going back to school! Just like many families, my house is bustling with excitement and anxiety that comes with watching our children leaving for their first day of school. The anxiety felt by parents and caregivers does not ease over the years, whether we are looking into the beaming faces of our children heading off to school for the first time or our teenagers embarking on their graduating year. We want our children to enjoy every minute as they prepare for their future.
As a parent, I am proud to be part of a government whose core focus is ensuring that everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed and the opportunity to thrive. This is especially true in our commitment to support children and youth, along with their parents and caregivers through the school years, so that they may realize their full potential.
There is no doubt that we are living through challenging times and while inflation has eased and interest rates are moving downward, the cost of everyday living remains high. Our government is committed to bringing these costs down in the long term, but families need assistance now and we are committed to delivering just that. I am excited to share a few measures in support of parents and caregivers, making things a bit easier for families.
National School Food Program
No child should ever have to learn on an empty stomach. Higher grocery prices are making it difficult for parents to afford to put enough good, healthy food on the table meaning that one in four children in our country do not get enough to eat. This is unacceptable. That is why we are creating the National School Food Program which will provide meals for over 400,000 children across Canada. Ensuring that children do not go hungry will literally nourish Canada’s future.
Affordable Childcare
Hand in hand with the National School Food Program is our commitment to ease the burden on parents and caregivers through dramatically increasing access to childcare spaces and reducing the strain on family budgets by delivering childcare for $10 a day. Our focus on a Canada-wide early learning and childcare system, working with provinces and territories, will see the addition of 250,000 new affordable childcare spaces by March of 2026. Moving toward with delivering the promise of $10 a day childcare will save families in Ontario up to $8,500 in childcare costs per year.
Canada Child Benefit
Through the Canada Child Benefit, families can receive nearly $8,000 per child per year. It’s remarkable that since the benefit was introduced in 2016, child poverty in Canada has dropped from 16.3% in 2015 to 6.4% in 2021. That’s 650,000 children lifted out of poverty in just six years.
Canadian Dental Care Plan
Good oral health care is important for our children. The Canadian Dental Care Plan is helping make the cost of dental care more affordable for eligible Canadian residents. The plan is open to everyone who does not have access to dental insurance and earns less than $90,000. The government is now enrolling children under the age of 18 to the program at www.canada.ca/dental.
We all work very hard to support our families. All these measures will undoubtedly provide parents and caregivers with the flexibility to make the best choices for their children — not having to choose between food on the table and dental care or whether or not to enter or re-enter the workforce. We are delivering on our commitment to support families, and I will keep working hard to help every one in our community of Ottawa Centre.