Mr. Speaker, I want to say first that I am very pleased to speak on Bill C-28. However, I am not pleased to speak on the government's decision to implement a number of provisions that really go against Parliament's position. I will get to this later.
I want to talk specifically about the way the disability tax credit is now working. To be eligible for this tax credit, the applicant must have a severe and prolonged mental or physical impairment the effects of which are such that the individual's ability to perform one or more basic activities of daily living is markedly restricted, and this must be certified by a qualified medical doctor. Since this is a non-refundable credit, those who receive it must have sufficient income to pay federal tax. The maximum value of the current credit is just over $1,000.
The definition of “impairment” that the Department of Finance uses for disability tax credit purposes is the most restrictive in all the federal government. It is based on the individual's ability to perform basic activities of daily living, in accordance with the definition found in section 118 of the Income Tax Act.
If a medical doctor certifies that the claimant has a severe and prolonged mental or physical impairment the effects of which are such that the individual's ability to perform one of the activities mentioned is markedly restricted, he might be eligible. If he is able to perform these activities—even with medication or with a device—he is not considered as having an impairment for tax purposes.
CCRA officials have recognized before the committee that Terry Fox would have been considered as having an impairment according to the criteria of the disability tax credit.
The act now says:
(a) an impairment is prolonged where it has lasted, or can reasonably be expected to last, for a continuous period of at least 12 months;
(b) an individual's ability to perform a basic activity of daily living is markedly restricted only where all or substantially all of the time, even with therapy and the use of appropriate devices and medication, the individual is blind or is unable (or requires an inordinate amount of time) to perform a basic activity of daily living;
(c) a basic activity of daily living in relation to an individual means
(i) perceiving, thinking and remembering,
(ii) feeding and dressing oneself,
(iii) speaking so as to be understood, in a quiet setting, by another person familiar with the individual,
(iv) hearing so as to understand, in a quiet setting, another person familiar with the individual,
(v) eliminating (bowel or bladder functions), or
(vi) walking; and
(d) for greater certainty, no other activity, including working, housekeeping or a social or recreational activity, shall be considered as a basic activity of daily living.
Canadians consider that CCRA is unfair in its administration of this credit. CCRA is notoriously harsh when it comes to rejecting applications on technicalities. For example, because the word “breathe” is not included in the legislation as an activity of daily living, the agency has refused the disability tax credit to Canadians who have breathing problems, who have cystic fibrosis for instance, because their condition does not come under the precise definition of “disability”.
Some very determined citizens sued CCRA over these restrictions, and they won. A recent victory worth mentioning is the decision made in Hamilton v. Canada, where the Federal Court of Appeal established that the legal standard, for the purposes of the disability tax credit, was the fact that the activity of feeding oneself is not just the act of putting food in one's mouth. Mr. Hamilton had celiac disease, a particularly severe form of allergy to gluten. He won on appeal the right to the tax credit because he has to spend most of his time, every day, to find and prepare in a special way the food for a medically prescribed diet.
Thinking this case could lead to heavy financial costs, the finance department brought in a bill amending section 118 of the Income Tax Act on a Friday afternoon, just before Labour Day, on August 30, 2002.
That amendment was to add the following to section 118.4:
(e) feeding oneself means the physical act of putting food in one's mouth or swallowing that food;
(f) dressing oneself means the physical act of putting and removing one's clothes.
Those new restrictions to the eligibility status meant that those claiming the DTC because they were unable to feed themselves could be refused if they could swallow or if they were able to put an artificial arm through a sleeve.
Members from all sides of the House were opposed to this amendment. The Bloc Quebecois collected 6,000 signatures on a petition opposing the new restrictions. The NDP collected over a 1,000 letters opposed to this measure, and moved an opposition day motion that was votable. It condemned the restriction and asked for the implementation of a unanimous committee report on the disability tax credit. The motion was adopted unanimously on November 2002. The Finance Minister was in attendance, but he abstained.
After dragging his feet in the House for one week, the Minister of Finance officially withdrew the planned amendments.
Let us see what is in the recent budget. On budget day, on February 18, 2003, nothing was said in the budget speech regarding disability tax credit eligibility. There was nothing either in the main budget documents. However, in the ways and means motion to be found in schedule 9 of the budget plan, there is a series of new planned changes to the definitions of “feeding oneself” and “dressing oneself” under section 118 of the Income Tax Act.
This is really slipping through the back door things the Parliament already voted on. When I say that Parliament voted on those things, I mean that on Tuesday, November 19, 2002, an NDP motion asking to turn down those proposals was adopted unanimously. What did the Minister of Finance do about this motion? If Liberal members vote against the budget bill, the government will fall. So he literally put the knife to the throat of the Liberal members if they did not support the bill. He had not voted on the motion. The only one who did not vote on the motion on the disability tax credit on November 19, 2002, was the Minister of Finance.
Now he has introduced a bill and hijacked the government and the Liberals by telling them, “You will vote my way or we will close down Parliament and call an election”. I cannot even use the words that come to my mind because I would be called to order. It is unacceptable for the Minister of Finance to go after the poorest people in our society, the disabled.
A women came to my office. She had only one leg and had to wear a prosthesis. She had been eligible for the tax credit for 10 years. Now the government is taking that credit away from her with a bill like the one the Minister of Finance is asking us to pass.
It is totally unacceptable when we see the Liberal government going after the disabled. Before that, it went after workers who have lost their jobs when it took in excess of $45 billion from the EI fund. Last week, I think it was the member for Beauce who was saying that there was no money left in the fund. As if it was not enough to have taken all the money from workers who have lost their jobs, the Liberal government is now going after the disabled. It is unacceptable.
Under this bill that they want to pass, a man like Terry Fox, a hero in this country, would not be recognized as disabled, as he would have been under the previous legislation.
How can the Liberals say that this is the right thing to do? How can they ask us to trust them when, financially, they are going after the poorest?
Let us take RRSPs for example. Rich people will benefit from large tax reductions, but there is nothing for the poor. And things are getting even worse: now it is the disabled who are the target. It is sad to see the direction that the Liberals are taking.