Federal Budget 2026: Who Benefits
Federal Budget 2026's impacts report rates the $36,055 million Productivity Mega Deduction, its largest measure, as benefiting mostly men and high earners.
- Measures the impacts report rates as benefiting mostly men carry $87.9 billion, or 60.5%, of the $145.3 billion in net-cost measures it rates, eight times the $11.0 billion rated mostly women (calculated).
- The $36,055 million Productivity Mega Deduction is 70.2% of the $51.4 billion in measures the report rates as favouring high-income people (calculated).
- The low-wage worker package the report rates "Strongly progressive" is a net saving of $1,022 million over five years, because ending advance payments saves more than the enhancement costs (calculated).
How the Budget Rates Its Own Measures
Annex 4 is the impacts report required by the Canadian Gender Budgeting Act. Its Table A4.1 rates 249 measures from the six chapters, the legislative measures and the supplementary tax measures (calculated from the table rows). That is up from 158 measures in Budget 2025's Table A6.1 (calculated).
Each measure gets up to three ratings. The gender scale runs from "Predominantly women (80% or more)" and "Majority women (60% - 79%)" to "Majority men (60% - 79%)" and "Predominantly men (80% or more)". The income scale runs from "Predominantly low-income people (Strongly progressive)" to "Predominantly high-income people (Strongly regressive)". The age scale has two settings, "Predominantly youth, children, and/or future generations" and "Predominantly seniors or the baby boom generation". A measure where "no single group [is] expected to benefit proportionally more than others" is rated "All demographics" (Budget 2026, Annex 4, Detailed summary of impacts by measure).
The table also flags specific groups expected to benefit more, a link to the Gender Results Framework, quality-of-life domains and a "responsive approach" to access barriers. Every scale describes who benefits. None has a category for a group that pays or loses.
| Rating (count of measures) | Budget 2026 | Share (calculated) | Budget 2025 | Share (calculated) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Predominantly men | 12 | 4.8% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Majority men | 60 | 24.1% | 39 | 24.7% |
| Majority women | 16 | 6.4% | 5 | 3.2% |
| Predominantly women | 3 | 1.2% | 2 | 1.3% |
| All demographics | 103 | 41.4% | 77 | 48.7% |
| No gender rating, not all demographics | 55 | 22.1% | 35 | 22.2% |
| Predominantly or majority low-income | 56 | 22.5% | 24 | 15.2% |
| Predominantly or majority high-income | 40 | 16.1% | 26 | 16.5% |
| Predominantly youth and future generations | 29 | 11.6% | 11 | 7.0% |
| Predominantly seniors | 12 | 4.8% | 9 | 5.7% |
Calculated from Budget 2026, Annex 4, Table A4.1 and Budget 2025, Annex 6, Table A6.1. Gender rows sum to all measures. Income and age rows do not, since most measures carry no income or age rating.
The report now commits to a lean more often. "All demographics" fell from 48.7% of measures to 41.4% (calculated). Budget 2026 uses "Predominantly men" 12 times, a rating Budget 2025's table did not use once (calculated).
Table A4.1 also drops the "Net Fiscal Impact" column that Budget 2025's table printed. To weigh the ratings by money, this page joins them to the chapter cost tables by measure name. Where one cost line spans annex rows with different ratings, it counts as mixed (calculated).
| Rating, five-year net cost (calculated) | Millions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Majority or predominantly men (calculated) | 87,947 | 60.5% |
| Majority or predominantly women (calculated) | 11,028 | 7.6% |
| All demographics or no gender rating (calculated) | 35,714 | 24.6% |
| Mixed gender ratings within one cost line (calculated) | 10,621 | 7.3% |
| Majority or predominantly low-income (calculated) | 54,530 | 37.5% |
| Majority or predominantly high-income (calculated) | 51,369 | 35.4% |
| All demographics or no income rating (calculated) | 23,487 | 16.2% |
| Mixed income ratings within one cost line (calculated) | 15,924 | 11.0% |
Calculated from Table A4.1 and the chapter cost tables. The base is $145,310 million (calculated), the 2026-27 to 2030-31 net cost of chapter measures with a net cost of $20 million or more, all of which appear in Table A4.1. Smaller lines and earlier policy actions are excluded.
Who Gains Most
Men-rated money is mostly the business, energy and resource side of the budget. The Productivity Mega Deduction alone is rated "Majority men" and "Majority high-income people". Tariff support for workers and businesses, at $11,324 million, is rated majority men, and its main row is also rated majority low-income (steel and aluminum). Powering Canada Strong, at $8,747 million, is rated majority men and majority high-income (electricity).
The tilt does not rest on one measure. Without the Productivity Mega Deduction, men-rated measures still carry 47.5% of the money (calculated). The forest sector package ($2,216 million) and AI for All ($2,038 million) are both rated "Predominantly men" (forestry, tech and AI).
The report rates "Housing and homelessness" as majority men and predominantly low-income. That single row covers four cost lines worth $14,740 million (calculated), led by $11,224 million to end homelessness (housing).
Women-rated money is smaller and front-loaded. The largest item is the $5,416 million child care top-up, rated majority women (child care). It is two-year funding, and the cost table marks later years with a dash, meaning an extension will be considered later. Women-rated money falls from $3,676 million in 2027-28 to $828 million in 2028-29 as a result (calculated). Men-rated money runs between $19.8 billion and $21.6 billion a year from 2027-28 (calculated).
First Nations clean water, at $4,611 million, is the second-largest women-rated measure and is also rated predominantly low-income (Indigenous economy). Only three measures are rated "Predominantly women". They are gender-based violence agreements ($607 million), the Menstrual Equity Fund and the Women's Health Research Initiative (justice).
On income, low-income-rated measures edge out high-income ones, $54.5 billion to $51.4 billion (calculated). Six measures make up 70.5% of the low-income total (calculated). They are homelessness, First Nations housing ($7,913 million), Jordan's Principle and Indigenous child welfare ($5,253 million), First Nations education ($4,796 million), the groceries supplement with Nutrition North ($4,665 million) and clean water. The report cites severe food insecurity of 6.5% in 2024, up from 3.6% in 2020, to underline the groceries benefit and the National Food Security Strategy (Budget 2026, Annex 4, Chart A4.7).
Indigenous Peoples are the most-flagged group. The report names Indigenous Peoples or First Nations as expected to benefit more on 73 of 249 measures, or 29.3% (calculated). Measures where every annex row carries that flag total $60.5 billion, 41.6% of rated money (calculated). That is more than double the $26,649 million in s. 4.3, Advancing reconciliation, because the flag also covers homelessness, groceries, the Mackenzie Valley Highway and forestry (calculated from the Chapter 4 cost table).
Children and youth get $13.4 billion of strictly youth-rated money, 9.2% of the total (calculated). Most of it is Jordan's Principle and First Nations schools.
Who Is Left Out
Seniors get far less than youth. Twelve measures are rated as benefiting mostly seniors. Cost lines rated only for seniors total $878 million, 0.6% of rated money (calculated). The refundable Canada Caregiver Credit is $845 million of that and the Brain Canada Foundation $24 million. The groceries supplement carries no age rating (seniors).
Veterans are flagged on four measures worth $146 million (calculated). Chapter 3 says the homelessness package renews the Veterans Homelessness Program and helps persons with disabilities. The annex's housing row flags neither group (veterans).
The report's official-language tag is "French language minorities". It appears on four measures, in cost lines worth $1,531 million (calculated). There is no tag for English-speaking minorities in Quebec (official language minorities).
First Nations have their own tag, used nine times. Inuit and Métis have none. The renewal of the Inuit Child First Initiative sits in a row flagged "Indigenous", with no Inuit tag (Inuit, Métis).
Black Canadians have no tag either. The $136 million Black Justice Strategy is flagged "Racialised" and rated predominantly men, predominantly low-income and youth. Chapter 3 names Black Canadians among those helped by the homelessness measures. The annex row flags racialised Canadians in general.
Persons with disabilities are flagged on 19 measures. The Build Canada Workers Benefit lowers the disability supplement's earnings threshold from $1,150 to $200, yet its annex row flags Indigenous Peoples, newcomers and lone parents only (persons with disabilities).
Newcomers are flagged on 13 measures. Of the $12,198 million in newcomer-flagged money, $11,324 million is tariff support (calculated). The other newcomer-flagged rows run from immigration levels and temporary foreign workers to biometric screening and financial-crime enforcement (newcomers). 2SLGBTQI+ people are flagged on 14 measures, including the $60 million Project Stream renewal.
Where the Report Is Thin
The expenditure review is missing. Budget 2025 committed to $13 billion a year in Comprehensive Expenditure Review savings by 2028-29 and projected about 40,000 fewer public service positions. The spring update then proposed the 20% consulting cut Budget 2025 had promised, worth $0.9 billion a year by 2028-29 (Budget 2026, Chapter 6, and the Spring Economic Update 2026). None of these has a row in Table A4.1.
The two "Renewing the public service" lines the report does rate are "All demographics" with "Good Governance". They are $400 million in operating cuts tied to early retirements and $305 million in savings on the government's Canada Pension Plan employer contributions. The public service has already fallen from about 368,000 to about 332,000 employees, and the report says nothing about who left (expenditure review, public servants).
Measures that raise costs for people are still rated only by who benefits. Canada Post modernisation raises a single stamp to $2.00 from 2027, then 7% a year, and converts urban door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes. The annex rates it "Majority low-income people (Somewhat progressive)" and "Predominantly seniors", flagging four groups (Crown corporations).
Savings drop out. The phase-out of advance payments saves $3,082 million over five years and has no row of its own. The enhancement in the same cost line costs $2,060 million and is rated "Strongly progressive" (Budget 2026, Chapter 3, s. 3.1). The $2,188 million in projected EI premium revenues that funds EI measures is not rated either (tax measures).
Quality-of-life ratings are uneven. Twenty-five measures are marked "No material impacts". One is the $845 million refundable caregiver credit, which the same table rates as benefiting low-income people and seniors.
The process figures do not line up. The text says 52% of measures had early-stage GBA Plus, while Chart A4.1 prints 51%. Early and later analysis together cover 64% of measures, and the chart does not account for the other 36% (calculated). The report says barriers were found in about 18% of measures, with a mitigation approach for about 96% of those (Budget 2026, Annex 4, GBA Plus summary).
The footnote for asterisked measures says they "were announced prior to November 4, 2025". Budget 2025's annex used the same words and date. One asterisked measure, the Productivity Mega Deduction, was announced September 15, 2026. This suggests the footnote was carried over unedited.
What to Watch
Chapter 4 says gender and diversity reporting will extend to future spring economic updates. The first test is whether that reporting restores per-measure costs and rates the expenditure review.
The Build Canada Workers Benefit halves advance payments from July 2027 and ends them for the 2028 tax year. Watch the implementing legislation for any assessment of who loses the mid-year payment.
The child care top-up is funded only through 2027-28. Without a renewal, the women-rated share of new money shrinks further from 2028-29 (parents of young children).
The early-retirement operating cuts will appear in the 2027-28 Main Estimates. Canada Post's stamp increase starts in 2027. Neither has an impact rating that names who bears the cost.
Net Assessment
By its own ratings, Budget 2026 puts most of its new money into measures that benefit mostly men and, through the Productivity Mega Deduction, mostly high earners. That follows from what the budget chose to fund, which is business investment, energy, resources and tariff relief. The low-income side is real, but it is concentrated in First Nations programs, homelessness and a one-time groceries supplement.
The report is broader than last year's and rates more measures with a clear lean. It is also harder to use. It no longer prints costs, it has no scale for losses, and it leaves out the spending cuts and public service reductions that fall on identifiable groups. Seniors, veterans, Inuit, Métis and English-speaking Quebecers barely register in it.