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  Thursday, July 9, 2026  Every July, a wave of federal benefit payments resets for the new benefit year — and 2026 brings one of the biggest shifts in years. Between a permanent 25% boost to the old GST/HST credit, a fresh Canada Child Benefit increase, and the largest quarterly OAS bump of the year, millions of Canadian households will see different numbers land in their accounts this month. Here's what actually changed, and what to check in your own CRA account. The GST/HST Credit Has a New Name — and a Bigger Payout The GST/HST credit has officially been replaced by the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB) . It's not a new program from scratch — it runs on the same CRA infrastructure and eligibility rules — but the payment amounts are 25% higher, and that increase is locked in for five years. The first CGEB payment went out on July 3, 2026. Under the new structure: A single individual with no children can receive up to roughly $679 per year (about $170 per quart...

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Canadian Housing Starts Plunge 22% in November as Higher Rates Bite



Canadian housing starts fell by 22% in November from the previous month, missing estimates by a wide margin, as higher borrowing costs hurt groundbreaking on multiple unit and single-family detached urban homes, data from the national housing agency showed on Friday.

The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts fell to 212,624 units from a downwardly revised 272,264 units in October, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said. Economists polled by Reuters expected starts to decrease to 257,100 in November.

As the more difficult borrowing conditions and labour shortages now seem to be showing in the starts numbers, we can expect to see continued slower starts rates in the coming months, according to CMHC’s deputy chief economist Kevin Hughes.


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