Federal NDP Belatedly Introduces Bill to Strengthen the Canada Disability Benefit

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update

United for a Barrier-Free Ontario for All People with Disabilities

Website: www.aodaalliance.org

Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com

Twitter: @aodaalliance

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aodaalliance

 

Federal NDP Belatedly Introduces Bill to Strengthen the Canada Disability Benefit

 

July 11, 2024

 

SUMMARY

 

Last month, the federal New Democratic Party introduced a bill into Parliament to shore up the weak Canada Disability Benefit Act, which Parliament passed one year ago and whose budget Parliament (including the NDP) recently passed. The NDP is responding to the massive criticism of the Trudeau Government’s announcement that the maximum benefit an impoverished person with disabilities can get is $200 per month. It is now beyond dispute that contrary to earlier Government promises, the Canada Disability Benefit would not lift out of poverty the vast majority of people with disabilities in Canada who now languish in poverty.

 

The Canada Disability Benefit Act, widely known as Bill C-22, did not set any minimum requirements for who would qualify for the Canada Disability Benefit. This was all left to regulations which Cabinet could later make, and which subsequent Cabinets could gut, all in secret.

 

While Bill C-22 was being debated in Parliament, we and a number of other disability advocates called for Parliament to amend the bill to strengthen it. Regrettably, some disability charities urged Parliament to simply pass the bill as is, without amending it to strengthen it.

 

One area in which we and several others tried to get the bill strengthened concerned the bill’s criteria for who would qualify to receive the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB). We wanted some guarantees for people with disabilities built into the bill. For example, the AODA Alliance’s October 17, 2022 brief submitted to the House of Commons included this:

 

“No Person with a Disability is Guaranteed that They Are Eligible for the Canada Disability Benefit

 

The bill is also very weak because it establishes no eligibility criteria at all. Under it, no people with disabilities, including no working-age people with disabilities, are entitled to a Canada Disability Benefit. It delegates to Cabinet the sweeping discretion to set the eligibility criteria through regulations.

 

As a result, Cabinet’s eligibility regulations could substantially reduce entitlement to the Canada Disability Benefit to an even smaller proportion of people with disabilities than those which the bill now includes within the term “working-age people with disabilities.”

 

The regulations are not subject to any public debates, public hearings, or public votes. In a minority government, the opposition is entirely excluded from the process of determining eligibility for the benefit.

 

People with disabilities will not know from one year to the next what benefits they can expect to receive. At a secret Cabinet meeting, a subsequent Cabinet or Government could arbitrarily and unilaterally gut the eligibility requirements that a previous Cabinet had established. It could also do that with no public debate, public hearings, public vote, or participation by any opposition parties.

 

We therefore recommend that:

 

#4. Section 4 of the bill should be amended to:

 

1. Set mandatory statutory criteria for who is eligible for the Canada Disability Benefit.
2. Ensure that if any limited discretion is granted to Cabinet to enact regulations on eligibility criteria, those regulations must be strictly limited. They must not override the mandatory criteria to be set out in the bill itself or disqualify persons with disabilities from the benefit, who meet the bill’s statutory criteria.”

 

The AODA Alliances April 24, 2023 brief to Canada’s Senate on Bill C-22 included this:

 

“People with disabilities who now qualify for a provincial or territorial social assistance disability benefit should automatically qualify to receive the CDB. They should not have to re-prove that they have a disability and are living in poverty.

 

Therefore, the bill should be amended to create a two-track way to qualify for the CDB. Track 1: Those who already receive a provincial or territorial social assistance disability benefit (such as the Ontario Disability Support Program) should automatically qualify for the CDB, without having to go through a second application process. Track 2: Those who are not now receiving a provincial or territorial social assistance disability benefit should have a way to apply for the CDB, with the bill and regulations spelling out the eligibility criteria.

 

Without limiting who has a “disability” for applying for the CDB, the bill should be amended to provide that a person who applies for the CDB is automatically deemed to have a qualifying “disability” and does not have to re-prove that they have a disability, if they:

 

1. a) receive benefits under a federal or provincial employee’s or worker’s compensation law;
2. b) receive disability benefits under a private insurance plan; or
3. c) qualify for the Disability Tax Credit.

 

11. The following subsections should be added to Section 4:

 

4    (1) A person is eligible for a Canada disability benefit if they meet the eligibility criteria set out in the regulations.

 

(2)  A person is deemed eligible for a Canada disability benefit under subsection 1 if they are in receipt of

1. a) a federal, provincial or territorial disability benefit, as set out in the regulations;
2. b) compensation under a federal or provincial employee’s or worker’s compensation law, as set out in the regulations; and
3. c) any other benefits, as set out in the regulations.

 

(3)  If a deemed eligible person is no longer receiving benefits listed under subsection 2, their continued eligibility for a Canada disability benefit shall be determined based on the eligibility criteria set out in subsection 1.”

 

We regret that Parliament made none of these specific amendments. The NDP did not propose any of these amendments in the House of Commons when it had the chance to do so. We appreciate that the NDP pushed for some other amendments to the bill, but sadly, it was not willing to seek or support several key amendments that we felt were important.

 

It is certainly helpful that the NDP is belatedly now trying to strengthen Bill C-22. However, the NDP had a much better chance of succeeding 18 months ago. Canada has a minority Parliament, so the Trudeau Government did not and does not call all the shots. However, the NDP’s waiting so long to get on board with this serves as a gift to the Trudeau Liberals a chance to fire back that this will now delay the Canada Disability Benefit.

 

Of course, such claims by the Trudeau Government should be read in light of the Government’s own long delays. When Bill C-22 was before Parliament, the Trudeau Government criticized those who tried to amend the bill to strengthen it, claiming that amending the bill would delay delivering much-needed money into the pockets of impoverished people with disabilities. The Government said that its priority was to get money to impoverished people with disabilities as quickly as possible. The Government then delayed a full year before proclaiming Bill C-22 in force and is still on its own admission a year away from getting any money to anyone, much less the paltry $200 that it has set as its monthly maximum.

 

Below you can find a June 13, 2024 article in the Toronto Star and a June 13, 2024, NDP news release on tis topic.

 

What You Can Do to Help

 

Please contact your MP and the leaders of the major federal parties. Tell them to strengthen the Canada Disability Benefit, and to state what monthly amount they would guarantee for it if they are elected. It is not good enough for them to just criticize the Trudeau Liberals.

 

Learn all about our advocacy efforts on the Canada Disability Benefit by visiting the AODA Alliance website’s Canada Disability Benefit page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORE DETAILS

 

The Toronto Star June 13, 2024

 

Originally posted at https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/ndp-wants-to-dramatically-change-who-will-qualify-for-the-trudeau-governments-disability-benefit-a/article_9fccbf3e-2999-11ef-9072-8b3dbee816b0.html

 

 

NDP wants to dramatically change who will qualify for the Trudeau government’s disability benefit — a month after voting in favour of it

If passed, the bill would increase the number of people who will get the benefit by expanding eligibility for the disability tax credit to automatically include anyone already receiving provincial assistance.

 

NDP MP Laurel Collins announces the NDP’s plan to make it easier for Canadians when they apply to the disability tax credit on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 13, 2024.

 

PATRICK DOYLE THE CANADIAN PRESS

By Mark Ramzy Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA—The New Democrats tabled a bill Thursday that would make drastic changes to the Trudeau government’s disability benefit just a month after it was the only opposition party to vote in support of its funding.

 

If passed, the bill would increase the number of people who will get the benefit by expanding eligibility for the disability tax credit to automatically include anyone already receiving provincial assistance, a key demand by many disability advocates. The tax credit is a certificate obtained through a doctor’s note that’s required to receive federal disability supports.

 

The change could mean the Trudeau government will need to raise its funding from the $6.1 billion over six years it earmarked for the benefit in this year’s budget.

 

“The Liberals need to go back to the legislation and follow the guidelines of that legislation,” said NDP MP Bonita Zarrillo. “They need to fulfil their promise to the community that they are going to do that work in collaboration with them.”

 

The introduction of the bill also raises questions about what the NDP received in return for its budget support and the original disability benefit model. For weeks, the NDP withheld support for the Liberals’ budget over concerns that included what it called an inadequate Canada Disability Benefit, until NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he received an “openness” from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to address those issues.

 

Asked about that on Thursday, Laurel Collins, the MP who introduced the bill, would only say her party would have to push the Liberals into supporting this change.

 

“Almost every time that we’ve put forward a sensible plan to support Canadians, we’ve had to force the Liberals into taking action,” Collins told reporters.

 

The Trudeau government, meanwhile, claims it’s an attempt at playing politics from the New Democrats that will only delay the rollout of the new disability benefit, slated to begin in July 2025.

 

“What the NDP is proposing will create more complications and slow down the process,” said one government official speaking on background, noting that there are inconsistencies in eligibility for disability supports in different provinces and territories. The disability tax credit is the fastest and most efficient way to roll out the benefit, they argued.

 

Still, the bill comes as welcome news to advocates who had long criticized the disability tax credit, a certificate obtained through a doctor’s note that’s required to receive federal disability supports.

 

Currently, 500,000 working-age persons with disabilities get the tax credit, and the government expects that number to reach around 600,000 as it invests $243 million over six years to help offset some of the costs of medical forms required to apply for it. But it’s hundreds of thousands fewer than the number of working-age people advocates estimate have a disability, and only 25,000 people with disabilities are expected to be lifted out of poverty due to the benefit.

 

The NDP’s proposal would see the number of people getting the tax credit rise to at least 750,000, according to analysis shared with the Star by Maytree, an organization that advocates for poverty-reduction policies.

 

“That’s what our community has been advising the government to do for well over a year now,” said Amanda Mackenzie, the national director for external affairs at March of Dimes. “This is a way to get that issue on the radar.”

 

The New Democrats had joined advocates in slamming the funding of the $200 per month benefit earlier this year, with Singh describing it as a sticking point as they debated their support for the Liberals’ budget.

 

When it came time to vote on the budget, however, the NDP supported it.

 

“We’ll be holding this government to account to ensure the problems that I’ve raised are addressed,” Singh told reporters.

 

Though he did not disclose what commitments he got in return for supporting the budget, he had said there was “some progress on the clawback question.”

 

So far, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Nunavut have confirmed they have no plans to claw back their own supports, while the government of Newfoundland and Labrador has announced a new benefit to top-up the federal aid program.

 

The bill also faces difficult prospects of passing, unless it receives government backing or wide support from other opposition parties.

 

“Given that (the Trudeau government) knows that this is a problem, and we have presented this as a solution, but they have failed to act, I think you can only assume that they do not want a large portion of people with disabilities to access the benefits that they deserve,” Collins said.

 

Mark Ramzy

Mark Ramzy is an Ottawa-based general assignment reporter for the Star. Reach him via email: mramzy@thestar.ca

 

 

 New Democratic Party of Canada News Release

 

Originally posted at https://www.ndp.ca/news/ndp-announces-plan-make-canadas-disability-benefit-easier-access-canadians-who-need-it

Canada’s NDP

June 13th, 2024

 

NDP announces plan to make Canada’s Disability Benefit easier to access for Canadians who need it

OTTAWA – On Thursday, NDP MP Laurel Collins tabled a bill to make the Canada Disability Benefit and other benefits — including the Disability Tax Credit and disability pensions — cover more Canadians. If passed, Collins’s bill will allow any person eligible at the provincial level for a disability tax credit, pension or benefit to qualify automatically for the same benefits available at the federal level.

 

Right now, people with disabilities must apply to the provincial and federal disability tax credits separately. This means they must undergo two different arduous doctor’s assessments and application processes, which cost thousands of dollars for people often already on the margins.

 

“If the Liberals have been consistent at one thing, it’s leaving persons with disabilities behind. The government should be ensuring that Canadians are getting the benefits they need when they need them, in the most accessible way possible,” said Collins. “Persons with disabilities need their benefits to afford food, rent and basic needs. Our NDP plan will make it easier for more people to get covered. No one should have to jump through hoops to get their basic needs filled and I hope that Liberals and Conservatives support that.”

 

Under the Liberals, people with disabilities live disproportionally in poverty, face many barriers and don’t always have the assistance they need to navigate complicated application processes. And successive Liberal and Conservative governments have not put in the resources needed to lift persons with disabilities out of poverty and to remove barriers they’re so often confronted by. Recently, the Liberals announced a mere $200-a-month disability benefit that doesn’t even cover groceries and will leave the overwhelming majority of persons with disabilities living in poverty.

 

“The Liberals promised people with disabilities that they were going to finally stop failing them, but they short-changed them instead,” said Zarrillo. “Not only did the Liberals botch the Canada Disability Benefit by only offering $200, which isn’t even enough to cover groceries and medication, but this government has also made it difficult to even apply for the benefit. For once, the Liberals can make something easier for people with disabilities, instead of focusing on protecting rich CEOs, and support this bill.”