Madam Speaker, today is International Day of Disabled Persons. I would like to revisit the issue I brought to the attention of the House on October 28, on the first anniversary of a federal task force report on persons with disabilities, and that is the growing desperation of the disabled.
I will start by setting the stage for the task force. It was set up after the Minister of Finance eliminated the Canada Assistance Plan and instituted the CHST, no strings attached money to the provinces where health care, education and social services would all be fighting for the same dollars.
The Minister of Human Resources Development stated that he was planning to end federal responsibilities to the disabled and the families caring for them.
In the grand scheme of downloading and devolving, people with disabilities and the families caring for them, my own family included, were facing an anxious and uncertain future in this new world order: reduced resources, reduced protection, and reduced commitment in the areas of health care, education and social services.
The task force held out a ray of hope for all of us that the rights of the disabled would finally be dealt with by the federal government. The task force called for a Canadians with disabilities act. It recommended earmarked funds in existing programs, tax reforms and refundable tax credits. It urged the government to address the extra costs of living with disabilities.
The task force led people to believe that the very real issues of training, education and labour, the life issues of the disabled, would finally be dealt with. One year after it was tabled and where are we? The Liberals have only implemented 8 of the 52 recommendations, and I must say they were the easy ones.
Persons with disabilities and their services are under attack more than ever. The federal government is trying to ram through changes to the Canada Pension Plan Act, which will have the impact of cutting $1 billion in spending on CPP disability pensions by the year 2005. Disabled widows and widowers will have their combined survivor disability pension benefits reduced. Disability pensions will be harder to get and worth less.
Now with the CHST and cash strapped provinces having the discretion to spend money as they want, services to the disabled are dropping like flies. In the nation's capital there are two accessible taxis available on 24 hours notice. The para-transit service has been cut in half, and it was underfunded to begin with.
How are people supposed to go to work or to the doctor? How are they to visit their mothers? Attendant care is being slashed. People have to fight for the right to have a bath once a week. It is a farce to say that persons with disabilities have the same rights when supports are being withdrawn for them to participate at the most basic level.
What about protection under the law? With the sentence handed down this week on the murder of Tracy Latimer, the disabled believe they were sent an even stronger message, that their lives were somehow not worth as much as others. Tracy Latimer was disabled and she is now no longer with us.
It is time that we all took a very close look at the conditions facing the disabled in Canada. It is time the federal government finally acted on the recommendations of its task force.
On behalf of the disabled I urge the government to appoint a minister responsible for persons with disabilities and to introduce a persons with disabilities act. It is time to safeguard the quality of life for our most vulnerable citizens. Some 4.2 million disabled Canadians and their families are waiting and hoping that these issues will finally be addressed.