Highlights of the 2022 Fall Economic Statement

The federal government has unveiled a number of measures meant to help students, workers and businesses cope with the rising cost of living as the economy slows down.

Here are some highlights of the Fall Economic Statement.

Help for workers

• $4 billion over six years, starting next year, to automatically issue advance payments of the Canada Workers Benefit to those who qualified for the benefit in the previous year.
• $250 million over five years to help workers prepare and retrain for the green energy jobs of the future. 
• More than $26 million over five years, starting in 2023-24, to crack down on labour code violations and improve working conditions.

Help for students and youth

• $2.7 billion over five years to make all Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans permanently interest-free as of April 1, 2023, including those now being repaid.
• More than $800 million over three years, starting next year, to support summer jobs, an employment strategy for youth and job placements. 

Help for businesses

• A refundable tax credit equal to 30 per cent of capital costs for investments in non-emitting energy, heating and energy storage projects, and zero-emission vehicles.
• $962.2 million over eight years —starting next year, with $121.1 million per year after that — to modernize the National Research Council's infrastructure and boost innovation.
• $1.28 billion over six years and $55.4 million each year after that to speed up approval of natural resource and energy projects

Other measures

• The federal government says it will deploy a threat of legislation as it negotiates with credit card companies to get them to lower fees without affecting reward points programs.
• It's promising to tax share buybacks and introduce a new minimum tax regime for the richest Canadians, measures that are expected to boost government revenue by $2.1 billion over five years.
• It's setting aside $1 billion in 2022-23 for Hurricane Fiona-related requests from provinces under the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements.
• And it's earmarking $8.5 billion over six years to respond to economic pressures expected to hit Canada in the near term.