Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary shared that he was surprised by the disability community's reaction to the Canada disability benefit. He is right on one thing: There was deep disappointment.
I will give him a few quotes. Inclusion Canada said, “Our disappointment cannot be overstated”. The Quebec intellectual disability society noted that this is worse than any worst-case scenario. Disability Without Poverty stated, “To say we are disappointed is an understatement.” Here is why. The government promised four years ago that the Canada disability benefit would lift folks with disabilities out of poverty in the same way the GIS did. The GIS is $15 billion a year and gives a maximum amount of over $1,000 a month. This benefit barely lifts anyone out of poverty, only 25,000 people in total.
The second reason for the disappointment is that the government took four years to get it done. The whole way along it kept saying it needed to hear from the disability community to understand more about it. Well, the benefit is nothing that was asked for, being 200 bucks a month that is tied to the disability tax credit, which cuts out a ton of people, and not even starting until July 2025.
Does that help the government understand better why the disability community is so deeply disappointed?