Madam Speaker, I want to start by commending my colleague from Port Moody—Coquitlam for putting forward the debate. It is a debate that is long overdue. I spent the morning listening to the debate, particularly the Liberals' blaming poverty on one's disability instead of on the Liberals' failed systems and their failure to provide adequate programs to ensure that we can end legislated poverty in this country once and for all, something that is absolutely ableist.
I know that real offence was taken this morning to my calling a speech ableist rhetoric. That speech likened the poverty of the disability community to their disability. I stand by that because the reason we are in this crisis today is legislated poverty against indigenous people. We know that the disability benefit is totally inadequate and needs to be fixed.
We know the Liberals broke their promise to the disability community. The Liberals' decision is to underfund the benefit, even though they are claiming that this is a good start. It is a $200 benefit at a time of an inflationary crisis and a cost and affordability crisis. This is unacceptable.
The benefit in its current form will leave over one million people in poverty. That is unacceptable. The Liberal government has tried to put off putting in place the disability benefit, requesting consultation after consultation. We have had enough consultation. The Liberals have certainly run out of the excuse that they need to consult more.
We know it needs to be done, and we know it needs to be done now. We know that almost one million persons with disabilities live in poverty in Canada. We know it has gotten worse with the rising costs of food, rent and housing. We know that it is becoming more difficult for everybody, particularly the disability community, which often has extra costs related to disability. It has been made even worse.
This has happened over decades of consecutive Liberal and Conservative governments. We know what Conservative governments do. I certainly saw it in Manitoba. They cut, cut, cut. They cut health care. They cut education. The current leader of the Conservative Party has said he will cut the school food program, the dental care program and the pharmacare program. I do not ever count on the Conservatives to ensure the human rights of all peoples in this country. In fact, they constantly push and vote against measures to ensure the human rights and dignity of all people, including the disability community.
We know that the current disability support programs have been further eroded by the current affordability crisis. We cannot afford cuts and we cannot afford anymore a Liberal government that turns a blind eye to its willful human rights violations against the disability community and then gets angered when it is called out for it. It gets defensive when it gets called out for it. This is especially true because both the Conservatives and the Liberals have had no shortage of subsidizing their rich CEO friends and rich corporations, whether it be Loblaw and the campaign manager, Jenni Byrne, running the show, or spending $12 million on fridges.
New Democrats will continue to fight for benefits. New Democrats will continue to fight to improve the material conditions of all people. That is exactly what I tried to do with the guaranteed livable basic income, which was supported by disability groups from across the country, in addition to current and future government supports and services.
Guess what happened. The Conservatives and Liberals voted against it, a guaranteed livable basic income that would have lifted the disability community out of poverty in addition to current and future supports meant to meet their specific and special needs. What do Conservatives and Liberals do at every turn? They vote against measures to lift people out of poverty.
There are persons with disabilities receiving provincial and territorial disability income supports who, with the new benefit, are at risk of clawbacks from provincial and municipal programs. Also, the way that it is set up even makes it hard for many people in the community to qualify.
We want to get the benefit in the pockets of people in 2024, not by 2025 like the Liberals are promising, after the next election or 20 years from now. There are grandiose announcements but nothing is getting out the door. The NDP will continue to fight to make sure that all people living across Canada live above the poverty line. If it were not for the Liberals and Conservatives, we could have done that with a guaranteed livable basic income, something that the Conservatives laughed at and the Liberals threw out the door.
We want all low-income persons with disabilities to be automatically enrolled in provincial and territorial disability support programs, and we want the government to work with provinces and territories to secure a commitment that no clawbacks will occur should anybody receive the benefit. Nonetheless, we wait on the Liberal government in spite of overwhelming outrage that has occurred. We continue to wait for the Liberal government to do the right thing.
I will share some of the outrage. Disability Without Poverty said, “We have a crisis of poverty in this country. Over 41% of people impacted are people with disabilities. This cannot be ignored anymore in a country like ours”. Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said, “From barriers to employment to affordable housing—