I'll start with the topic of RDSPs, since Mr. Brain just finished with that.
Regarding the RDSP, to follow up on some of the systemic gaps with that, not only with what he was speaking about, I'm a mental health and addictions advocate. With the RDSP, you need to requalify for that on your disability tax credit. In mental health, you have to continually requalify for the disability tax credit every so many years. If any of your situations change, such as a psychiatrist or medical health team change, it can be difficult to get that paperwork done, and there's the cost and so on. It took me 15 years to find out from the government that if you do not requalify for the disability tax credit and you have an RDSP, the money the government put in has to be repaid when the RDSP is cashed out.
Regarding the disability tax credit, there are issues with living in poverty and under the poverty line with the disability tax credit. They are non-refundable tax credits. As a person with a disability, you can't benefit from the way the disability tax credit is set up. I see recommendations for making that more user-friendly for the person with the actual disability. The disability tax credit should benefit the person with the disability, and provide assistance with actual medical costs, as well as refundable tax credits.
Currently, someone like me on CPP disability does not have any help with extended medical costs, without any extended health, other than OHIP. There should be open disclosure of the RDSP disability tax credit rules and regulations regarding requalification and paybacks. There should be collaboration between governments to close the gaps between government-administered savings programs and assistance programs such as the ODSP and the CPP disability program. We also need a review of the disability tax credit and systemic gaps. The programs should benefit the qualified recipients and not hinder them.
Any studies by committees created to research the Canadian poverty reduction strategy should include people with lived experienced from diverse backgrounds. No one knows what we need better than those living within the system, and no one knows the failures better than we do. Think things through. I'd like to see that things are thought through from the perspective of a person's lived experience. We're the ones trying to figure the programs out and how to live through them.
With the guaranteed annual income, I don't see a real benefit to it, and I think it's just going to create further systemic gaps. In my situation, it is not going to make a lot of difference. Although it increases my income, I'll still have the same systemic problems. For example, with the guaranteed annual income, my cost of health care will go up, the income on my deductibles will go up through the Trillium drug program, the cost of my housing will go up because of the rent geared to income, and other subsidies I receive will go down as the income I have goes up.
I would be much better off if I were provided with health care because of the health care costs that I have. I would still receive the same type of discrimination and stigma in trying to find a place to live, because I would still be stigmatized by having a guaranteed annual income compared to a rent supplement. So I don't see where the benefits are. I would still struggle with the same types of issues.