Peter Zimonjic -
The federal government will today reintroduce legislation to create a monthly benefit payment for working-age Canadians with disabilities, CBC News has learned.
© Trevor Brine/CBCThe Liberal government will today reintroduce legislation to create a monthly disability benefit payment for Canadians aged 18-64.
"With the Canada Disability Benefit, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to correct the long-standing social and economic exclusion that is the lived experience of far too people with disabilities in our country," Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough said in a media statement.
The Liberal government introduced Bill C-35 in June 2021, during the last Parliament. The bill received first reading but died on the order paper when the 2021 federal election was called.
Earlier this month, the New Democrats introduced a motion calling on the federal government to re-offer the disability benefit. The non-binding NDP motion passed unanimously in the House of Commons. The party said it introduced the motion to prompt the government to act.
Qualtrough told CBC News at the time that any delay in introducing the bill was due to her government's efforts to ensure the benefit would work and would not result in a reduction of other benefits.
"We are … working with the provinces and territories to ensure that the Canada Disability Benefit will increase the monthly income of Canadians with disabilities living below the poverty line and not negatively impact entitlement to other programs and services," the minister said.
When C-35 was first introduced, it did not state how much funding individuals would get, or how. It did, however, give the government scope to set most of the benefit's design elements, including the conditions that must be met to receive it, the monetary value of the benefit and how it would be indexed to inflation.
It is unclear if these conditions will remain in place when the Liberals reintroduce the legislation.
An election promise
During the 2021 federal election campaign, the Liberals said there were more than one million Canadians with disabilities living in poverty and promised to address the issue.
The Liberals' 2021 platform pledged to introduce the benefit to help with the cost of transport, medical procedures and other expenses.
The platform said that, once the benefit was implemented, it would deliver "a direct monthly payment … for low-income Canadians with disabilities ages 18-64."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's post-election mandate letter to Qualtrough directed her to re-table the bill.
On Wednesday, a multi-party group of senators and members of Parliament issued a public call for the government to re-offer the bill, saying that while 22 per cent of the population is made up of people with disabilities, 41 per cent of Canadians living in poverty have a disability.
"We need to deliver on our promise to create a new benefit for people with disabilities. It is as simple as that," Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith said.
Sen. Chantal Petitclerc, a Paralympic athlete named to the Senate by Prime Minister Trudeau in 2016, sits in the Independent Senators Group. She said now is the time to take action.
"As one of the 22 per cent of Canadians with a disability, I am aware of the barriers and inequities that still exist and persist," she said.
"As a senator, I am committed to ensuring that, in our country, everyone has equal opportunities and has the tools to reach their full potential as well as actively contribute to society."
No comments:
Post a Comment