Madam Speaker, over the past number of months when questions came up in the House about the disability tax credit, the government would often respond by saying that if those people were really disabled, their cases would be reviewed and they would get their money. I have a letter that was sent to the minister by some constituents of mine. I would like to read it to give hon. members, including my colleague from Dartmouth, the impact that those types of attitudes have on the disabled:
I have had a recent experience regarding how Canada Customs and Revenue Agency treat the disabled.
My mother was removed from the rolls of the disabled for a period of six months. While her exclusion was eventually overturned, I got to endure such comments as: “We are targeting seniors. We will get to them all eventually”. When I spuriously suggested that the great physicist, Stephen Hawking, would not qualify as disabled, one of your bureaucrats had the audacity to agree. Seniors and disabled persons are easy targets and many have neither the will, energy nor support to fight back.
While ultimately vindicated I feel the stress and anguish contributed to the subsequent hospitalization from which my mother has recently recovered.
It is not okay to treat the disabled like this. It is not okay to have them go through an appeal process with Revenue Canada when there are numerous criminals out there who are trying to escape from paying their taxes. These people just want a little bit of a break. The government is willing to give breaks to corporations for boxes at baseball games and for corporate executive wives to buy $1,000 gowns, but the disabled do not get a break for a mere pittance of a tax credit. It is absolutely shameful. I would like my colleague to comment on that.