The Carney government delivered its first federal budget on Tuesday, a document marked by high spending, lower immigration targets and a variety of cuts all emphasizing Canada’s need to confront a “generational” challenge amid the “rupture” of the trade war.
The government’s 2025 budget sets out an agenda of $141.4 billion in new spending offset by $51.7 billion in projected savings over the next five years, with the deficit projected at $78.3 billion this year.
Here are some smaller points you may have missed — but that matter for you.
Currently, the price of a postage stamp is regulated in Canada. Canada Post says it “has kept regulated letter mail rate increases to a minimum” over the last decade.
In its budget on Tuesday, the government announced its plan to amend the Canada Post Corporation Act to deregulate the setting of postage rates.
For stamps purchased in a booklet, coil or pane, which represent most stamp sales, the rate increases by 25 cents in January, to $1.24 per stamp. The price of a single domestic stamp increases to $1.44, up from $1.15, Canada Post said at the time of the most recent price hike.
There’s little further detail on the proposal at this time.
Expanding EI parental benefits
The government announced that it will amend the Employment Insurance Act to allow claimants receiving parental EI benefits to get eight more weeks of parental benefits in the event of the death of the child.
Currently, if the death of a child occurs while parental benefits are being paid, parents are no longer eligible as of the week following the loss.
The federal government is also creating a new National Public Alerting System model, it said in the budget on Tuesday.
The budget allocates $55.4 million in spending over four years for the system, which will provide alerts for everything from imminent natural disasters, extreme weather events and security threats to reports of missing or abducted children.
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It’s not yet clear what that system would look like.
So far, 2025 has been the second worst wildfire season in Canadian history, with more than 6,000 wildfires in nearly every province and territory, Public Safety Canada said last week.
These wildfires have burnt more than 8.3 million hectares of land, forcing the evacuations of more than 85,000 people, including over 45,000 people from 73 First Nations communities.
Tuesday’s budget allocates $257.6 million over four years, starting next year, to Natural Resources Canada “to lease four aircraft to bolster provincial and territorial aerial firefighting capacity.”
According to Insurance BC, there are nearly 5,000 earthquakes in Canada every year, with the West Coast being especially vulnerable. It added that there is a 30 per cent risk of Canada facing a major earthquake within the next 50 years.
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, most home insurance plans don’t include protection from earthquakes.
The government said it will consult with federally regulated property and casualty insurers, as well as other stakeholders, on how it can ensure “the stability of Canada’s insurance sector in an extreme earthquake event.”
Last month, the government renewed the Canada Strong Pass for another summer.
On Tuesday, the budget allocated $116.3 million over two years, starting in 2025-26, to renew the Canada Strong Pass for the holiday season, from Dec. 12, 2025 to Jan. 15, 2026, and then again for summer 2026.
The pass was announced this past spring as a move to increase tourism while also picking up on Canadians’ frustration over “51st state” rhetoric and tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Numbers released to Global News indicate the pass has been effective, with national museums and parks both seeing an increase in visits compared to 2024.
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