Bonus payment being added to B.C. benefit for thousands of families: premier
Thousands of B.C. families who receive a benefit from the province will get a little more money this year, Premier David Eby announced Monday.
Recipients of the B.C. Family Benefit – which is distributed to eligible parents with children under the age of 18 – will get an average of about $445 more as the province adds a one-year bonus to payments to help with rising expenses.
"With global inflation and high interest rates driving up daily costs, we know families are being hit hard right now," Eby said in a statement. "Getting a little extra money to families for the basics is one of the ways we're helping people who are feeling squeezed right now."
About 340,000 families receive the benefit, the province said, which is an increase of 66,000 compared to last year. On average, families receive about $2,000 from the benefit per year, with amounts scaled based on net income and the number of children in the family. Single-parent families typically qualify for higher payments, and middle-income families receive partial benefits.
Katie Bartel, a parent living in Chilliwack, welcomed the benefit, saying it "often takes an entire community" to raise a family.
"Life's expensive, especially for those of us who have a child with a disability and raising any family right now has its own unique challenges. I always thought my life would get cheaper as my kids got older, and I was very wrong," she said Monday. "I see how hard it is for families right now, with rising costs of food, clothes, gas, child care, housing, parents are struggling to get by."
Payments of the B.C. Family Benefit are delivered by direct deposit or cheque and come as a combined payment with the federal Canada Child Benefit. The province estimates 70 per cent of families in B.C. will receive the benefit in 2024, with the increased payments starting in mid-July.
"We know people are feeling the effects of high prices and stretched budgets," Minister of Finance Katrine Conroy said in a statement. "That's why we're increasing this year's BC Family Benefit payments to help lighten the burden."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Who are the richest people in Canada? Here's how many billionaires there are
If you gathered all the wealth that billionaires currently have worldwide, you would have about US$14.2 trillion, according to Forbes Magazine. But what about in Canada alone?
'7 years of regret': Raunchy leg piece wins bad tattoo competition at Edmonton Expo Centre
Friday night was a celebration of mistakes for a small group of body art enthusiasts.
Time crunch, rules mess could plague a Liberal leadership race
Calls have intensified for Justin Trudeau to resign as head of the party he almost single-handedly pulled back from the brink after a decimating electoral defeat in 2011.
Despair in the air: For many voters, the Biden-Trump debate means a tough choice just got tougher
The sound you might have heard after the presidential debate this past week was of voters falling between a rock and a hard place.
Lightning deal Sergachev, Jeannot; Maple Leafs acquire Tanev's rights at NHL draft
General managers wheeled and dealed Saturday in Sin City.
235 flights cancelled as WestJet waits to hear from labour minister on next steps in mechanics strike
WestJet said 235 flights have been cancelled Saturday as it waits to see what the next steps are in its ongoing labour dispute with its mechanics.
A year ago, she drank battery acid to escape life under the Taliban. Today, she has a message for other Afghan girls
Holding a mirror steady in one hand, Arzo carefully applies pencil to her brows as she gets ready for an English lesson a short walk from her home on the outskirts of Pakistani megacity Karachi.
A Florida auctioneer was about to sell an 1800s pocket watch. He learned it was a stolen piece of U.S. presidential history
A pocket watch that belonged to Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt was returned to his New York home this week after it was stolen decades ago and later showed up at an auction, according to the FBI and the National Park Service.
U.S. and Europe warn Lebanon's Hezbollah to ease strikes on Israel and back off from wider Mideast war
U.S., European and Arab mediators are pressing to keep stepped-up cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militants from spiraling into a wider Middle East war that the world has feared for months. Iran and Israel traded threats Saturday of what Iran said would be an 'obliterating" war over Hezbollah.