Under the Income Tax Act, persons suffering with diabetes are entitled to receive the disability tax credit if their doctor verifies that they require 14 hours a week or more of life-sustaining therapy. Throughout the entire tenure of the previous Conservative government and up until a year and a half into the mandate of this particular minister, all diabetics whose doctor certified that they met that requirement received the tax credit. It saved them about $1,500 a year in taxes.
Then, strangely, in May, language like this started to appear, and I want to know if this minister approves of this language and whether she stands beside it. I quote: “An adult who independently manages insulin therapy on a regular basis does not generally meet the 14-hour-per-week requirement unless there are exceptional circumstances.”
This language has been used to deny the disability tax credit to literally thousands of suffering Canadians. These are just some of them. These are people who had been accepted for years.
Does the minister agree with the language in these rejection letters? Does she believe that those who administer their own insulin are unlikely to qualify for the tax credit, yes or no?