Finance committee  That's right.

Finance committee  When you're denied, you are also notified that you'll have to close your RDSP. You then have one year in which to get a doctor or a nurse practitioner to fill out a form that says, “I'm pretty sure this person can be re-eligible within a year. Please hold.” They'll hold for one year and then after that, if you haven't become re-eligible, then it's gone.

Finance committee  That's my understanding.

Finance committee  As far as I understand it, the multiplier effect is about three or four times. So of the $45,000 or $50,000 that somebody has in an RDSP, they would lose, I think, $40,000. Maybe my math is wrong, but it would be a lot of it, the majority of it, because, as I understand it, when they lose their eligibility for the DTC, the government withdraws all of the grants and bonds that it had previously contributed and the individual is allowed to retain only the portion that they contributed personally.

Finance committee  That's correct. We don't have numbers on this, of course, but there are a quarter of a million Canadians who live with type 1 diabetes. At least 100,000 of them must be eligible for the DTC. If even just 5% or 10% of them had RDSPs, it would be $100 million to $150 million that we're talking about.

Finance committee  That's correct.

Finance committee  I have not. The RDSP is administered by ESDC, so we're stuck in a little bit of a procedural loop there. That is my next line of inquiry. I think I'm going to have to engage in a different channel on that.

Finance committee  Very quickly, before I answer that question, I'd just like to thank you for your introductory remarks, and I'd like to briefly respond to a comment Mr. McLeod made in his question. Mr. McLeod, I'm so sorry your mom had diabetes. As you say, it's a scourge. I want to emphasize to the committee that I don't consider this a partisan issue.

Finance committee  That's absolutely correct, and you're right in saying that it's a larger issue and really a huge source of worry for the people we represent. As the committee knows well, in order to be eligible to have an RDSP, a person must first qualify for the DTC. Once you form an RDSP, you can make contributions to that plan and then you can attract grants and bonds from the federal government that help the individual who is suffering from a disability or their family provide financial stability for their future against the risks that they will experience periods of inability to work.

Finance committee  I've heard a lot more about the lengthening of the time that's being taken to review the applications. I have also heard complaints that the refunds are taking much longer.

Finance committee  They have a part of this information. As I understand it, the way they gather information on the rates of applications, approvals, and denials is by category of application. The members of this committee will know better than I that there are a number of categories under which you can apply for the disability tax credit, one of which is life-sustaining therapy.

Finance committee  We had asked them directly before we submitted the ATIP.

Finance committee  They said that they couldn't provide us with it.

Finance committee  It was because they didn't track information by diagnosis; they tracked only by category of application. I said, “Okay, fine, give me the numbers for everybody who applied under life-sustaining therapy, and we'll just see if there's a pattern in that,” understanding that people with other conditions also apply under there.

Finance committee  I really don't. I think frankly that the concerns that have been expressed about promoters are a red herring. I think that it is fully reasonable to expect that some people would find the process opaque. I am spending half of my time now trying to understand just one tiny portion of the application process for a DTC, and it's pretty tough.