Canada government proposes higher minimum wage benefits for low income workers

The Canadian federal government announced a plan to increase the Canada Workers Benefit as part of the Budget 2026 presented on November 5.

The government intends to raise the maximum annual payout to $1,859 for individuals and $3,143 for families by 2027. These proposed increases are intended to be added on top of the regular amounts that are adjusted for inflation.

The government plans to rename the program to the Build Canada Workers Benefit and significantly lower the minimum working-income threshold. The current threshold of $3,000 would drop to $500 under the new proposal. This change aims to include workers who earn very modest wages or only participate in the labour market for part of the year. The government estimates that these changes could make approximately 1.9 million low-income workers eligible for the program.

Specifically, the lower entry threshold could bring 180,000 additional workers into the system. The final implementation of these benefits depends on whether parliament approves the budget legislation.