OTTAWA, Ontario - Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tabled Budget 2026 on November 5, 2026, a plan titled Masters of our destiny that pairs $400 billion in capital investment over six years with $22 billion in new affordability measures, including a bigger grocery benefit, $45 billion for housing and $2 billion to retrofit one million homes.
The budget lowers the growth of direct program spending from 8 per cent to 2 per cent, and the government says it will balance day-to-day operating spending with revenues by 2027-28, a full year ahead of schedule, while keeping the deficit-to-GDP ratio on a declining path.
For households, the headline measure is a 50 per cent top-up to the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit in the new year. The benefit already reaches more than 12 million Canadians, providing up to $1,890 for a family of four this year and about $1,400 a year for the next four years. With the top-up, a family of four will receive up to $2,570 within one year to cover groceries and other essentials. The budget also expands Nutrition North Canada to lower the cost of food in northern communities.
Housing is the budget’s largest single commitment. The $45-billion investment is meant to build homes faster and more efficiently, using modern methods of construction and Canadian workers, and the government says it will work with provinces to cut taxes, fees and development charges on housing. Budget 2026 also charts a course to triple non-market housing construction over the next decade through Build Canada Homes, the federal housing agency launched in September 2025.
The budget sets Canada on a path to end homelessness over the next decade, working with provinces, municipalities and philanthropy. It will begin in Winnipeg, where more than 2,000 people are currently homeless, with a new Centre for Mental Health and Addictions and 2,000 additional transitional and supportive homes. The government estimates about 65,000 Canadians are homeless.
Workers and caregivers get direct help. The Build Canada Workers Benefit would now provide up to $1,859 to individuals and $3,143 to families, and the Canada Caregiver Credit becomes fully refundable, providing up to $1,260 to eligible Canadians caring for a loved one. The $2-billion retrofit investment covers one million homes and is expected to save Canadians more than $1 billion per year in heating and cooling costs.
What Surrey families get from Budget 2026
Surrey is one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities, and the budget’s housing, grocery and retrofit measures land directly on the costs Surrey households talk about most: rent and mortgages, food bills, heating costs and the price of caring for an aging parent. The grocery top-up, the fully refundable caregiver credit and the retrofit savings are all aimed at monthly household budgets rather than one-time payments.
The budget also builds on measures the government says are already delivering: a middle-class tax cut for nearly 22 million Canadians, saving a two-income family up to $840 this year; a GST cut for first-time homebuyers saving up to $50,000 on a new home; and the National School Food Program, which the government says is lowering grocery costs for families of more than 400,000 children.
For Surrey’s renters and first-time buyers, the housing measures matter most. The government says housing affordability is beginning to improve, with the share of household income covering ownership costs falling from 55 per cent to 41 per cent, according to the Bank of Canada, but adds that many Canadians are still priced out. The budget’s answer is faster approvals, e-permitting, more public land made available and a permanent homebuilding delivery system built around modern construction methods.
Investment, energy and culture
Budget 2026 introduces a Productivity Mega Deduction that lets businesses deduct the full cost of a new investment, cutting the tax on a new investment to 6.4 per cent, which the government says is less than half the rate in the United States and the lowest in the G7. The Canada Growth Incentive encourages founders, employees and investors to reinvest up to $15 million in capital gains from a successful startup into the next Canadian company. The budget also expands the Scientific Research and Experimental Development program by $930 million and puts $1 billion into a Strategic Response Fund for large-scale research and development.
Through the National Electricity Strategy, the budget invests $50 billion to double Canada’s electricity generation, with new transmission and grid modernization to meet growing demand and accelerate electrification.
On culture and recreation, the budget provides more than five times last budget’s record levels of support, including a flagship Canada 160 Fund, a renewed and permanent Canada Strong Pass, permanently free admission to national museums for children and youth under 25, and $1.5 billion to expand, retrofit and rehabilitate ice rinks and recreational facilities across the country. Up to $45,000 of artistic earnings would become tax free. More than $50 billion is committed to Indigenous investments.
“Being masters of our destiny is about having the confidence to build on our strengths and shape our own future,” Champagne said in the release. “Budget 2026 builds on those strengths by unlocking investment, building more at home, strengthening our energy and natural resource advantage, and helping Canadian businesses grow and compete on the world stage.”
(Source: Department of Finance Canada news release, November 5, 2026; Budget 2026 foreword, budget.canada.ca)
