Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to follow up on a question I had asked the Minister of National Revenue last fall. In mid-October, the minister repeatedly told the House that nothing had changed regarding the disability tax credit. However, we all know that the CRA changed the forms that were used by doctors to establish the eligibility for that credit starting on May 2, and that the minister had defended these changes in writing based on letters sent to rejected applicants over the summer.
On October 24, I asked why the minister was defending the 80% rejection rate that followed the May 2 change. I pointed out that she had done so in writing in July, when she wrote, “adults who independently manage their insulin therapy...are unlikely to meet the 14-hours...requirement.” Her answer to my question was to repeat her assertions that they were “committed to ensuring [Canadians] receives the...benefits to which they are entitled.” She patted herself on the back for simplifying the forms and said something about nurse practitioners. She said this, even as they were denying a benefit that some Canadians had been receiving for over 10 years. Therefore, they were denying benefits to Canadians that Canadians were entitled to, that they had been receiving for over 10 years in some cases, and taking credit for somehow making things simpler and helping Canadians receive a credit. I guess denying it quickly is one way to make things simple, but I do not think that is what Canadians would have in mind.
We know that the minister's agency made a decision last May to reject type 1 diabetics applying for the DTC. We know that just before Christmas, after two months of daily demands in question period to restore the pre-May 2 criteria, Liberals caved in and promised to restore the DTC to those who were denied due to the changes they made on May 2. However, what has been missing in this whole sorry episode is ministerial responsibility. At no time has this minister stood up and taken responsibility for her department. She is the minister. She is accountable for the actions of her agency. If the decision to reduce the number of approvals for type 1 diabetics was hers and she now agrees that it was a poor policy choice at that time, then she should apologize to disabled Canadians. If it was a staff decision that she was not aware of, then she should apologize for her poor management. If the letter was changed in defiance of her will as minister, someone should be fired. Canadians need to have confidence that ministers will be held accountable by the elected Parliament, and so far nobody has taken any responsibility.
If the DTC fiasco were the only problem at the CRA, one might be more forgiving of the minister's poor judgment and ignore the foolish answer she gave to my October 24 question. However, this minister's department has also been denying the DTC to the mentally ill, denying child tax benefits to single moms and dads, changing folios to tax employee discounts, hanging up on 64% of the people who call into her agency, giving wrong information to 30% of the others, taking eight months to correct simple mistakes, and issuing ever-increasing numbers of bad assessments that have an 18-month appeal queue. This minister has much to be accountable for tonight, so perhaps her parliamentary secretary could apologize on her behalf and acknowledge that they were wrong, that they had made a mistake, and that they plan to do better in the future.