Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for the serious concerns she raised on behalf of her constituents, which underscore the importance of addressing child poverty and affordability issues facing families. It is a concern shared by all members of the House. This is why the government is committed to building a better future for all Canadians, and that means bringing down costs to make life more affordable. The government is responding by taking action through a number of initiatives to improve outcomes, reduce barriers and support children and youth in reaching their full potential.
For nearly 10 years, the Canada child benefit has helped ensure that Canadian families can support their children and plan for the future.
Since 2016, the Canada child benefit has been a cornerstone in the effort to reduce child poverty. The benefit currently supports approximately 3.5 million families and reaches six million children, putting roughly $30 billion annually into tax-free support to families across the country.
Most families receiving the maximum CCB are single-parent families, with approximately 90% of them headed by single women. Plus, the benefit is indexed every year to help families keep up with increases in the cost of living. To help with the additional costs of caring for a child with disabilities, as a supplement to the CCB, the child disability benefit provides up to $3,480 for each eligible child. We know the CCB has contributed to lifting hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.
More recently, the national school food program has provided close to 400,000 children per year with access to food programs in their communities, saving parents $800 or more per year.
Budget 2025 introduced legislation to make the national school food program permanent, with an investment of $216.6 million per year starting in 2029-30. As announced on March 26, the National School Food Program Act received royal assent and is now enshrined in law.
There is more. We introduced a phenomenally successful dental care program for Canadians without private insurance. It is helping to address this issue by covering more than 6.3 million eligible Canadian residents, including almost 760,000 children in 2025-26. It saves members, on average, more than $900 annually.
We cut taxes for 22 million Canadians. This will save a dual-income family up to $840 per year in 2026.
We are building an affordable, high-quality early learning and child care system that is already saving families thousands of dollars per child per year across the country. We enhanced the GST credit, now the Canada groceries and essentials benefit, by increasing it 25% for five years starting in July and providing a one-time 50% top-up this year to help with everyday costs.
There is even more. Budget 2025 introduced automatic federal benefits starting in tax year 2026 to make it easier for low-income Canadians to access benefits.
In short, the government will continue to look for ways to bring down costs to make life more affordable. Because of all these programs in place, Canadians have a higher median of wealth than people in the United States.