"They can't get ahead": Canadians respond to Trudeau's Budget 2024 promise to younger generations
The 2024 budget just dropped, and it includes steps the Liberal government is taking to improve the lives of young Canadians.
Titled “Fairness for Every Generation”, the new budget involves “creating new opportunities for younger Canadians to get the education and skills they need for good-paying jobs.”
“For too many younger Canadians, particularly millennials and Gen Z, it feels like their hard work isn’t paying off. They’re not getting the same deal their parents and grandparents did. They don’t feel like they’re getting the same fair chance at success,” reads the 2024 budget handout.
“We must restore a fair chance for millennials and Gen Z.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also posted about his government’s commitment to younger generations following Tuesday’s budget announcement, pledging to help them get ahead.
When young people feel like they can’t get ahead in the same way their parents or grandparents could, that’s not fair. It's our job to fix that — and, in Budget 2024, we are.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 16, 2024
Trudeau’s post received hundreds of replies, with many Canadians — young and old — sounding off about his promise.
“You and your policies are… why young people are struggling,” wrote one of the comments.
You and your policies are the cause why young people are struggling
— sonofabench (@therealmrbench) April 16, 2024
They will be paying for your irresponsible debt for generations.
— Hannah Miller (@Millermiller115) April 17, 2024
Another person added that young Canadians may not trust the government’s pledge to “fix” things.
Young people feel like they can’t get ahead because of the things YOU have done to the country in the last 8 years. So WHY would they trust you suddenly can fix all the things you broke?
— Christina B (@ChristinaBehme4) April 16, 2024
The parents and grandparents have a lot of responsibilities
— Oliver Kai (@Larkin20Paige) April 16, 2024
One commenter blamed the current government for being the reason young people have “little opportunity to thrive.”
You are the reason they have little opportunity to thrive. #resign
— Lioness (@lioness0817) April 17, 2024
There is nothing in #Budget2024 that fixes anything for young people and except sticking them with record debt.https://t.co/FA7k6wj6zJ
— Kirk Lubimov (@KirkLubimov) April 16, 2024
Why can’t they get ahead in the same way as their parents or grandparents? Could it be that your government caused an affordability crisis over the last 8 years that you’ve been in power?
— Jade Sambrook (@JadeSambrook) April 17, 2024
What does Budget 2024 plan to do for young Canadians?
Many of the federal government’s key promises to help young Canadians with affordability are related to housing. The government is proposing a Renters’ Bill of Rights and allowing 30-year amortization for first-time buyers on newly built homes. The feds are also touting the new Tax-Free First Home Savings Account as a key measure to assist Canadians get their foot in the housing market.
The 2024 budget also includes measures directed at post-secondary students.
It notes an ongoing action that was introduced in April 2023, when the federal government permanently made student and apprentice loans interest-free. This saves student loan borrowers an average of $610 per year on interest payments.
Students don’t even have to start making full payments on those loans until they’re earning a middle-class income of $42,720 a year, per the budget document.
The budget also proposes an extension for an additional year in the increase in full-time Canada Student Grants from $3,000 to $4,200 a year and interest-free loans from $210 to $300 per week.
The feds aim to help students navigate the rental housing crisis by modernizing the shelter allowance used by the Canada Student Financial Assistance.
To facilitate more co-op work experience for students, the 2024 budget proposes providing over $207 million to Employment and Social Development Canada for its Student Work Placement Program.
A more detailed look at the 2024 budget proposals for young Canadians can be found here.
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