Finance committee  I'm uncertain if this would be something for us to speak to. I see my colleague, Trevor, from the legislative branch is here. Just to confirm, PS Beech, your understanding is the same as ours, having consulted with counsel. This would require a royal recommendation, given the flow-through effects on direct government spending that would be entailed by a change to the disability tax credit criteria.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Albas. It is standard practice in the Department of Finance when we're implementing or examining a proposal to conduct a gender-based analysis, so yes, I can answer affirmatively to your question.

Finance committee  The home accessibility tax credit allows individuals who are seniors or persons eligible for the disability tax credit in the year, if they have receipts for work done on their property to promote accessibility or safety improvements, to claim those specific costs up to the current limit of $10,000 and now $20,000.

Finance committee  To the extent that they have a tax liability, this is a tax relief measure. They can reduce their tax liability using the measure.

Finance committee  I would say the position of the government is that there has to be some type of accounting for parity between individuals with different types of disabilities in order to ensure fairness. The 14-hour requirement tries to ensure that therapy has a meaningful impact on the day-to-day activities and living of the individual pursuing the therapy.

Finance committee  I don't believe that's accurate. The test is a 14-hour test. Those who have to pursue that therapy...and that could include things like the time spent by parents in assisting with dosing the medication. In these proposals there will be more activities that could be counted in that 14 hours, so that should allow for more individuals who face those limitations in activities to be brought in.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. Just to back up to what is changing, there is a requirement in the act that therapy be undertaken at least three times a week, and there's a further requirement that it be undertaken for, on average, 14 hours a week. The reason for these minimal thresholds, in terms of the degree to which the individual is pursuing the therapy, is really about fairness for other individuals who apply and have to be assessed under other criteria.

Finance committee  Essentially, the move, as you noted, is taking this from a once-a-year delivery of this support, delivered at tax-filing time, to a quarterly payment regime. The first payment will in fact be a double-up payment to be received this summer, which will reflect the first two quarters of the benefit year.

Finance committee  I guess I'm lucky this time. It's me again. The disability tax credit is a 15% tax credit on an amount of $8,800, so it provides about $1,300 in support through the tax system each year. This credit is meant to recognize that individuals with severe and prolonged disabilities can bear costs in their day-to-day living that others may not bear.

Finance committee  I'm Lesley Taylor. I'm here from the tax policy branch. As you noted, the annual expense limit is increasing to $20,000. To your first question of how many people may stand to benefit, it's a little tricky to estimate these things given that this would be potentially a new population accessing the measure.