Madam Speaker, to date, we have not received a response. We sent the letter in about the middle of last week.
What we do know from the government is that it had a vague commitment in the Speech from the Throne to a bold new disability income support program. We are trying to fill in the blanks. Oftentimes, we see the current government, on other issues, make promises without a lot of details. Characteristically, New Democrats are interested in the details and how we would get it done.
That is why we proposed a number, we proposed a way to do it and we proposed what the advantages of doing that would be in terms of making sure that it does not depend on what part of the country people live in or what their level of income support is as a person living with disabilities. It is a way to put money back in the hands of provinces at a time when they desperately need it, and it is a way now to make sure that if they do need income support as a person living with disabilities, they are not forced below the poverty line. If we look at the rates that are paid across the provinces and by the federal government, it is not enough to make it. It is just not enough and that has to change.
When we talk about valuing life, about people choosing life and about not forcing them into a dilemma between premature death on the one hand and poverty and suffering on the other, it has to mean an income that does not keep them below the poverty line. That absolutely has to change and that is the real crux of that proposal.
We are hoping that the government will see that proposal as a good way to implement its own promise. If the Liberals have another idea, they had better hurry up and share it because this needs to be addressed with the same sense of urgency as this bill has been pushed through the House.