For people with severe disabilities, a measure such as a basic income, as we're proposing, cries out for attention in the same way it did for seniors a number of years ago. As Senator Segal said, we were able to make massive changes for seniors in poverty. We have a guaranteed income program for seniors. We're saying that we know how to do that. Let's do it for the severely disabled.
When we talk about the severely disabled, we use the kind of definition that's used for CPP. I think one or two other institutions use this. It's a very precise definition.
We have to remember that with some training and further education, there are a lot of disabled people who are quite capable of getting jobs or at least part-time jobs and who are able to contribute to the economy. Believe me, through the course of this study, I've met a lot of them who really want to do that. We want to give them that opportunity. But for people with severe disabilities, some people may not live long and some people are not going to be able to find employment. Let's face up to that and give them a decent standard of living and at least some decency in their lives.
By doing that, we would take a lot of them off social assistance. Social assistance is a very degrading thing for many people to go through. They have to surrender their assets and go through lots of hoops and mazes of rules. It's very difficult for many people to cope with all of that. I don't think they deserve that. I think, like our seniors, they deserve something better. It would take half a million people off the social welfare rolls of the provinces.
One of our other recommendations--I think it may be the one that follows it--is that we should work with the provinces. If this is going to be a federal role, as in other programs for seniors, then let's make sure some of the money that the provinces are saving goes to help other disabled people get jobs, training, or whatever support services they need. From talking to many people, we certainly heard that concept, and it's a concept that we're endorsing.