Madam Speaker, I wish to thank the member for Halifax and the leader of the NDP for her passionate words on the subject of persons with disabilities.
As the NDP critic for persons with disabilities I welcome the opportunity to take part in this important debate. I will start with a brief summary of what brings us here today to discuss the disability tax credit. I will keep the discussion simple.
In September 2001 CCRA sent letters to over 100,000 persons with disabilities, asking them to reapply for their meagre disability tax credit, claiming the need for an administrative review, always cognizant of the need to be good stewards of the public purse. The cost of reapplying for the credit is between $25 and $150. Doctors must refill forms, there are challenges for many with physical disabilities of getting anywhere near a doctor, and the Catch-22 nature of the newest revisions of the DTC forms make it next to impossible for doctors to fill it out accurately. All of these factors led to many people not even reapplying and many others being turned down.
Out of this valiant exercise in the public interest the CCRA was able to separate over 30,000 Canadians with disabilities from their benefits. That might add up to about $55 million. However, this does not appear to be nearly enough.
On August 30, 2002, the finance department released draft amendments to the Income Tax Act to further restrict the number of people considered disabled and, therefore, eligible to receive the credit. The proposed amendment would tighten the rules in the Income Tax Act governing whether disabled persons were capable of feeding or dressing themselves, again an important means by which the ever diligent CCRA would guard taxpayers from unworthy cheats and frauds within the disability community.
This is ironic given that today of all days we are hearing in the media stories about massive GST tax frauds. Hundreds of millions of dollars in tax frauds were involved in fake exports and car flipping without the CCRA and the federal government being able to lift a finger. I guess this is all the more reason to further shake down persons with disabilities for whatever the government can get.
In our motion we are calling for the need to change the eligibility requirements to the disability tax credit so that they incorporate a more humane and compassionate manner, the real life circumstances of persons with disabilities and the thousands of caregivers who help carry the load both emotionally and financially. I would like to take a moment to look at that real life circumstance that people are facing.
Gail lives in Halifax and is retired from teaching since the onset of multiple sclerosis. She lives on a small teacher's pension. She uses a wheelchair and lives with crippling pain. She has a small fixed income and watches every penny. She cannot afford to drink coffee or read newspapers. She cannot afford to go out. The federal government is reviewing her disability tax credit. How would losing the $500 credit affect her? Members can guess and I already have an answer to that.
A father in Regina who is emotionally and financially supporting three adult sons with schizophrenia is having the disability tax credit he receives reviewed. The credit helps to offset the cost of transporting his sons to hospitals and clinics. There are costs for parking, prescription and non-prescription drugs, housekeeping, personal care and counsellors.
He has looked at the newest DTC form and he sees no point in reapplying. He believes the new form is unjustly targeting persons with mental illness such as his sons. He says that to qualify under these new definitions one would have to be a physical vegetable, so why even bother.
Norman is 52 years old. He has Down's syndrome and diabetes and lives with his adult sister, Karen. He is having his disability tax credit reviewed. His sister and her partner have had many modifications made to their lives to allow Norman to be a part of it, including a reduction in income. They do not want it any other way, but having Norman live with them involves costs for special meal preparations, special transportation, and personal care. Their day-to-day lives cost more than ours. Norman's sister Karen has looked at the even more restrictive criteria presented by the finance department and throws up her hand. Of course Norman can dress himself and feed himself she said, but what does that really mean? Norman still requires someone to care for him 24 hours a day.
Sandra is from Sydney who cares for her 22 year old son with cerebral palsy. He uses a wheelchair; he needs a great deal of help to dress and eat. Sandra fights for proper seating and lifts for transporting her son. She pays for special boots and adaptive eating devices and now is being told her son may no longer be eligible for the disability tax credit under the new regulations.
These are only four cases of people and families living with disabilities in our country. Four of over 100,000 who have been asked to reapply for this small tax credit. They are ordinary Canadians who are managing, who are loving and caring for one another, despite all of the crap being thrown their way.
Now, we are seeing the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency shaking these people down because they are easy targets, too tired, too vulnerable, and too poor to hire lawyers to fight back. All of this is supposedly being done in the so-called public interest.
It is not in my interest or the interest of anyone that I know. I heard a catchy tune at a wedding that I attended with the refrain about how we must look below the surface, because “everybody's got a story that can break your heart”. Sometimes when I hear what people are having to endure, it does just about break my heart. However, that is not what this is all about.
Canadians with disabilities do not want to break anyone's heart, they just want a break. They are not looking for tears or pity; they are looking for dignity and respect, and a reasonable degree of assistance. That is why New Democrats in the House today are asking the federal government to stop targeting and fleecing people who are working flat out to survive. The government should pick on someone its own size.
In October last year when the CCRA asked to review over 100,000 claims to the credit, the subcommittee of parliamentarians charged with overseeing disability issues held a series of round tables to determine the impact of the CCRA's actions. We were all, bar none, stunned by the deep and calamitous response from all we heard from and we were ashamed.
Our investigations found that the inadequate income support and rehabilitation programs left one-third of Canadians with severe disabilities living in poverty. At least 40% of Canadians with disabilities were unemployed. Federal downloading and the elimination of the Canadian assistance plan left Canadians with disabilities poor and more vulnerable than ever. Without exception, we heard that the DTC in its present form needed to be revamped, improved, humanized and sensitized to reflect the many silent and significant costs involved in living with a disability.
We recommended in our final unanimous all party report to the finance minister that the time had come to make some much needed changes in definitions around disabilities for the purposes of the Income Tax Act. In tone and in spirit we called on the government to respect the successive judgments of the federal court rulings calling on parliament to give disabled persons a measure of relief from the increased difficulties under which their impairment forced them to live, by affording them humane and compassionate treatment under the law--no more, no less.
Our report was tabled March 2002 and we waited, and hundreds of thousands of Canadians with disabilities waited, for the response from the government. In June the NDP held up the business of the House to force the government to speed up its response and to encourage a positive response.
I would like to say that democracy and the consultative process won the day in this instance, but sadly, that was not the case. Instead of humanizing the disability tax credits, the department proposed changes that would make it even more difficult to qualify for the disability tax credit.
I started my speech by talking about individuals living with disabilities and I will return to them in closing. I urge all parliamentarians to create a society which truly supports, values and treats Canadians with disabilities as true citizens. The teacher with MS, the sons with mental illness, the brother with Down's syndrome or cerebral palsy are our neighbours, parents, children and someday quite possibly they will be us.
It is time our government, on behalf of us all, began to treat persons with disabilities fairly and humanely. We have a chance to start today with a strong message to the finance department about the disability tax credit. This is what is truly in the public interest and for the future well-being of our country and citizens.