8 key takeaways about what Budget 2024 means for your wallet

Affordability is one of the key focuses for the Liberal government in its latest budget, with housing taking centre stage with billions of dollars in sweeping policies targeting major reforms and changes.

“Together, we will unlock the door to the middle class for more Canadians and renew the promise of our great country,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said in the House of Commons.

Primarily focused on housing programs, this budget contains $57 billion in new spending – something Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says will further drive up the cost-of-living.

“Conservative will vote against this wasteful inflationary budget that is like a pyromaniac spraying gas on the inflationary fire that he lit, it’s getting too hot, and too expensive for Canadians,” Poilievre said.

But there are also multiple smaller initiatives and changes billed as efforts to try to ease the fiscal pinch Canadians are feeling, ranging from a boost to the disability benefit to measures tackling airline and concert fees, banking changes and making it easier to change phone or internet plans.

Here’s what to know about how Budget 2024 could impact your wallet and family.

The only thing that gives concert goers more ‘Bad Blood’ than scalpers in line for Taylor Swift are extra fees on tickets. The frantic race for tickets to her concerts got a cameo in Budget 2024 as the government pointed to the hunt as an example of why it is pledging to scrap junk fees for concert tickets, along with related proposals around fees in banking, air travel and other areas.

The main goals are to have all fees displayed upfront with ticket prices, improved protections around refunds when events are cancelled, and finding ways to crackdown on resellers that use bots to buy