The 2000 Budget: Health Care, Post-Secondary Education and Children

Ensuring Canadians have access to high quality, universal health care as well as a first rate post-secondary education system are both essential to Canada's quality of life and to our government's plan for making Canada the place to be in the 21^st century.

Health care and post-secondary education are Canadians' highest priorities. They are our government's highest priorities as well.

That is why Budget 2000 transfers an additional $2.5 billion over four years through the Canada Health Social Transfer to help the provinces and territories to address pressing health care and post-secondary education concerns. The transfer will also have the flexibility built in to allow them to draw upon it sooner - should they choose to do so.

This is the 4^th consecutive budget that we have increased CHST cash transfers

In the 1999 Budget, alone, we transferred an additional $11.5 billion over 5 years to the provinces and territories for health care - the largest single investment in our government's history.

Combined with last year's increase, this means that the cash component of the CHST will reach $15.5 billion in each of the next four years - a 25% increase in just two years.

And the total value of the CHST- cash and tax points - will reach an all-time high of $31 billion in 2000-01.

In addition to these CHST resources, Equalization for the less prosperous provinces will be $500 million higher than forecast in the 1999 Budget, and transfers to the Territories will be $100 million higher.

Children

Canada in the 21^st century must be a place in which all of our children have the good start they need in life to grow into healthy, productive and skilled adults.

Assisting families is not only the smart thing to do - it is the right thing to do.

Governments can do this in two ways: through income assistance and support for the services on which so many of our families rely.

Budget 2000 takes action on both fronts by:

• Enriching the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) with another $2.5 billion by 2004 - increasing it to more than $9 billion annually. Maximum benefits will reach $2,400 for a family's first child and $2,200 for each additional child; 
• Delivering a Five-Year Tax Reduction Plan that provides an average annual tax reduction of 21% to middle and low income families with children by 2004; 
• Doubling the duration of Employment Insurance maternity and parental benefits to 12 months - and making them more flexible and easily accessible; and, 
• Reiterating the Prime Minister's invitation - in the context of the National Children' Agenda - to all governments to reach an agreement by December 2000 on an action plan for early childhood development.