Selfadvocatenet.com coverage of govt of Canada Federal Spring Economic Update 2026

highlight piece out where disabilities affected in this 

Bringing Down the Costs of Groceries and Essentials

Making it Easier to Access the Disability Tax Credit

The Disability Tax Credit provides significant tax relief for persons with disabilities and their supporting family members. Eligibility for the credit serves as a key requirement for other supports including the Canada Disability Benefit, the Child Disability Benefit, and the Registered Disability Savings Plan along with the Canada Disability Savings Grant and Bond.

Each year, more Canadians are accessing the Disability Tax Credit, yet barriers in navigating the application process remain for many. The government is committed to supporting persons with disabilities and their families to access all the supports they need. Medical practitioners are required to certify an individual’s impairment and its impacts on basic activities of daily living to ensure that the eligibility criteria for the credit are applied consistently and fairly, but this does add to their administrative burden.

• To improve the Disability Tax Credit application for persons with disabilities and their families, and to reduce paperwork for medical practitioners, the Spring Economic Update 2026 proposes to:
  • Streamline the application process for individuals with a formal diagnosis of certain long-lasting medical conditions. These conditions, listed in the Tax Measures: Supplementary Information annex, have been identified through the Canada Revenue Agency’s experience in processing applications as satisfying the disability impact criteria for the credit. This proposal would not change the disability criteria to qualify for the credit and the Canada Revenue Agency would continue to have authority to ask for additional information to verify that these criteria are met. This measure would apply for the 2026 and subsequent taxation years.
  • Expand the list of medical practitioners who can certify eligibility for the Disability Tax Credit to include podiatrists (for a specific type of impairment) and broaden the types of impairment that can be certified by physiotherapists, speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists, within the scope of their training and practice. This measure would apply to Disability Tax Credit certificates issued after 2026 for the 2027 and subsequent taxation years.
  • Recognise provincial or territorial public guardians and trustees as being qualified to certify for the Disability Tax Credit for adults in their care for property matters who have a valid certificate of incapacity based on a medical practitioner’s assessment of their mental impairment. This measure would apply to the 2026 and subsequent taxation years.

These changes are expected to provide $345 million over six years, and $86 million per year ongoing, in tax relief under the Disability Tax Credit and via increased payments of federal benefits (such as the Canada Disability Benefit and the Child Disability Benefit), starting in 2025-26.

• Further, to ensure applications are processed in an accurate and timely manner, the Spring Economic Update 2026 proposes to provide $42.5 million over five years, starting in 2026-27, to the Canada Revenue Agency to administer these changes.

Making Essentials More Affordable Through the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit

To support those most affected by the rising price of food, in January 2026, the federal government announced the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB) to help more than 12 million Canadians afford day-to-day essentials.

The CGEB builds on the existing Goods and Services Tax (GST) Credit and will provide $11.7 billion in additional support over six years through:

• A one-time top-up payment to be issued June 5th—equal to a 50 per cent increase in the annual 2025-26 value of the GST Credit. This delivers $3.1 billion in assistance to individuals and families who currently get the GST Credit.
• An increase in the value of the GST Credit by 25 per cent for five years starting in July 2026. This increase delivers $8.6 billion in additional support over five years, starting in 2026-27, including to 500,000 new individuals and families.

Combined, this means that a family of four will receive up to $1,890 this year, and about $1,400 a year for the next four years; and a single person will receive up to $950 this year, and about $700 a year for the next four years.

The benefit will be paid quarterly and is in addition to existing benefits, such as the Canada Child Benefit, the Canada Disability Benefit, and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.

2.5 Empowering Canadians

The world is more challenging and divided. Canadians feel this every day. But Canadians have never waited around for the world we wish to see. Canada has always been built by the people who did hard things, who showed up when it mattered most, and who took care of each other. That is still what this moment asks of us.

Strong Canadian communities are essential in our goal of building Canada and ensuring we fulfill our promise. Together, we are taking clear, decisive action to ensure communities remain safe and welcoming spaces to live, work, learn, worship, and play. This includes strengthening local journalism so Canadians can remain informed about and engaged in the communities where they live; investing in small craft harbours that sustain coastal livelihoods; advancing accessibility so persons with disabilities can fully participate in community life; renewing Canada’s sport system; and providing supports to ensure that Indigenous communities are healthy and vibrant.

Empowering Indigenous Communities

Supporting Indigenous-led services and supports rooted in their unique cultures is essential to this government’s commitment to advance reconciliation. It ensures critical services like education, family services, social services and community governance meet the needs of Indigenous families, communities and individuals. These services are central to fostering a strong sense of identity and belonging, and support the long‑term growth and success of Indigenous people.

• As part of this commitment, the government previously annnounced:
  • $359 million over three years, starting in 2026-27, to support data collection and Indigenous governance and capacity programs, enabling First Nations to effectively deliver community-based services. This funding will ensure First Nations can sustain core functions necessary to deliver essential services and actively participate in Canada’s economy, while balancing community responsibilities and keeping pace with population growth;
  • $168 million over five years, starting in 2026-27, to support Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples so that Friendship Centres across Canada can continue to provide critical supports and services to their community members; and
  • $592 million over nine years, starting in 2025-26, for social support services for people living on reserve with chronic illness or disability under the Assisted Living Program so that they can maintain their independence and participate in their communities.

• To ensure First Nations, Inuit, and Métis individuals and communities have access to opportunities to grow and reach their full potential, the Spring Economic Update 2026 proposes to provide the following funding to Indigenous Services Canada:
  • $601 million in 2026-27 to support high-quality, culturally relevant elementary and secondary education on reserve that meets the needs of students so that First Nations youth can participate fully in Canada’s skilled workforce; and
  • $700 million over six years, starting in 2025-26, to continue to support Indigenous communities to implement their own solutions to protect children and families by exercising their jurisdiction under An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families.

Ensuring Canadians Can File Their Taxes in Their Communities

The Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) Grant supports community organizations in hosting tax preparation clinics, and arranging for volunteers to prepare income tax and benefit returns for individuals with modest incomes and simple tax situations, free of charge. These community tax clinics represent a trusted community resource, ensuring Canadians can receive the benefits, credits, and refunds to which they are entitled. This work complements the government’s commitment to introducing automatic federal benefits for lower-income individuals.

In 2025, the program supported over 3,500 organizations with almost 20,000 volunteers who helped file close to 1.1 million returns—delivering almost $2.6 billion in federal refunds, credits, and benefit entitlements. Approximately 17 per cent of returns filed through the CVITP in 2025 were from individuals who had not filed a tax return in previous years—helping Canadians enter the tax system and access the benefits and credits to which they may be entitled.

On February 3, 2026, the Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions) announced the CVITP Grant would be renewed for the next three years.

• The Spring Economic Update 2026 proposes to provide $18.7 million over three years, starting in 2026-27, to the Canada Revenue Agency to renew and expand the CVITP Grant.

Gender and Diversity Impacts Spotlight

The government is supporting Canadians by addressing cost-of-living pressures, strengthening community safety, and investing in inclusive, resilient communities. This includes supporting critical programs and services for Indigenous people, promoting sport participation, strengthening safeguards against financial fraud, supporting communities at risk of hate-motivated crimes, and making tax administration easier.

• The Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit is targeted at low- and modest-income individuals and families, and will provide support to more than 12 million Canadians. Single individuals, single mothers, Indigenous people, and persons with disabilities will particularly benefit from extra support to help with day-to-day essentials, as they are more likely to have lower incomes. It is estimated that over three-quarters of the additional support will go to singles (with and without children), of which about one-third will go to single women without children and one-fifth to single mothers. More than half of seniors will receive additional assistance, including three-quarters of single seniors.
• Supporting the Nutrition North Canada Retail Subsidy is targeted at 124 isolated communities, the majority of which are Indigenous. The share of the population living in food insecure households in Canada’s North is much higher than the national average of 22.9 per cent—reaching 62.6 per cent in Nunavut and 27.6 per cent in the Northwest Territories, while Indigenous families are around twice as likely as non-Indigenous families to face food insecurity. Groups at higher risk of facing food insecurity, such as women, children, lone-parent households, persons with disabilities, and elders, would predominantly benefit from this measure.

Investing in Sport—from Playground to Podium will help increase participation of underrepresented groups, directly benefitting women and girls, persons from low-income households, Indigenous people, Black and racialised people, and persons with a disability. Funding will also support high-performance athletes, who tend to be younger (below 35 years) and low-income.

Making it Easier to Access the Disability Tax Credit would benefit persons with severe and prolonged disabilities, who are disproportionately low-income and age 65 or older, and their supporting family members. Barriers like accessing a medical professional to certify eligibility for the credit or navigating the application process can limit uptake of eligible supports. Low and modest-income working-age individuals with a severe and prolonged disability, who generally face higher poverty rates than those without disabilities, and families with children with severe disabilities may also benefit from accessing support linked to the credit, such as the Canada Disability Benefit, Child Disability Benefit, and Registered Disability Savings Plan (including federal grants and bonds).

This is on Govt of Canada Website go to the link here

This the Responses from Disability Alliance BC 

Spring Economic Update Includes Changes to the Disability Tax Credit and other Tax Measures, but More Reform is Needed

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