Liberals to announce plan to double GST tax credit, launch youth dental care and top up housing benefits, NDP sources say

HALIFAX-The Liberals are expected to move on doubling the GST tax credit, launching a temporary dental care program for kids and topping up housing benefits to ease the pressures of skyrocketing inflation, NDP sources have told the Star.

The New Democrats say they have inked an agreement with the Liberals - which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is poised to announce Thursday - that would double the GST tax credit for a period of six months. About 12 million Canadians could be eligible, the party says.

That's something we've been calling for since earlier in the summer, since June," NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters as he entered day two of his party's caucus meetings in Halifax.

Doubling the credit is absent from the governing agreement the NDP and Liberals struck back in March, which included several priorities both parties sought to achieve by the end of 2022. Under the agreement, the Liberals pledged to commit to key NDP policies in exchange for the New Democrats supporting Trudeau's minority government until 2025.

Both parties also reached consensus on a plan that could see low-income youth under 12 receive a cheque for dental services by the end of the year. The plan is intended to be a temporary solution until a permanent dental care plan can be implemented by the end of 2023 and extended to those under 18, seniors and people living with a disability.

Under the stopgap measure, families would be able to receive a $650 cheque for each child requiring dental services. Those eligible will have to attest that they have a child under the age of 12, that they earn less than $90,000 a year, and that they don't receive any dental benefits through their work. Families would be able to receive the cheques in 2022 and 2023, at which point they would be issued a dental card that could be presented at a dentist's office with services directly billed to the federal government.

The third pillar of the plan is a payment of $500 for people who currently receive the Canada Housing Benefit and spend at least 30 per cent of their monthly income on rent. About two million people stand to benefit from the top-up, the source said.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has previously said a failure by the Liberals to uphold both the dental care and housing promises by year's end would lead to the deal's collapse, potentially triggering an election call.

But having all three measures up and running by the end of 2022 is not assured. The Liberals plan to introduce the measures in a new bill when the House of Commons resumes Sept. 19. It will be up to parliamentarians, the NDP said, to pass the bill either by year's end or early 2023.

Raisa Patel is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @R_SPatel