Thank you for that question, but I feel I need to correct you slightly. By the beginning of April we had taken a number of measures to ensure that our pandemic response was disability-inclusive, including appointing a COVID disability advisory group to make sure that we had lived experiences and real-time perspectives on what was going on on the ground. That group was invaluable in terms of giving us advice on our public health measures, on our community support initiatives and on a number of really important steps we took as a government.
In terms of moving forward, we have learned a big lesson from this, which many advocates have been pointing out to government for a long time, and that is around our inability to directly deliver the supports they need to Canadians with disabilities. That's why in the Speech from the Throne we committed to creating the Canada disability benefit, which is modelled after the GIS. It will be a direct income support to Canadians with disabilities. Underlying that will be a significant eligibility form in terms of how Canadians qualify for our benefits.
As I said, it's unacceptable that tax credits perform the kind of gatekeeping function, if you will, with regard to getting access to many of our programs and services, and we're going to change that.
I will also correct the member and say that it was a one-time direct payment that 1.6 million people got. They did get $600 in their bank account. Again, I know it was way overdue, but I can assure you it wasn't for lack of trying on the part of public servants, who had to create a brand new delivery mechanism to do it.