Madam Speaker, I am honoured to table today a petition signed by hundreds of people who point out that persons with disabilities deserve to have a dignified life.
Unfortunately, the new Canada disability benefit does little to address poverty. In addition, this benefit is tied to the disability tax credit. Part of the problem is that only 1.6 million Canadians have access to the disability tax credit, while there are roughly 8 million Canadians with disabilities. This is a significant discrepancy.
During the COVID‑19 pandemic, a threshold of $2,000 a month was recognized as the bare minimum needed to survive. These individuals are asking that the Canada disability benefit be increased to $2,150 a month and that this benefit be decoupled from the disability tax credit in order to ensure broader accessibility.