$6.1 billion for disability benefit falls short, critics say

Canada’s long-awaited federal disability benefit is set to start July 2025, with $6.1 billion in funding earmarked over the next six years — far short of what many advocates had hoped for.

The benefit will focus on lowincome working age people with disabilities and is expected to cover up to 600,000 Canadians with a maximum of $2,400 per year and clawbacks based on family income. Only those with a Disability Tax Credit certificate will be eligible, but it will be indexed to inflation.

First promised by the federal government in 2020, the Canada Disability Benefit Act was tabled in the Commons in 2021 but died when an election was called that year. The Liberals campaigned on reintroducing it and did so in June 2022, passing it a year later with bipartisan support.

But proponents have expressed frustration with the slow progress and lack of details.

Under pressure from advocates, 47 Liberal MPs signed a letter to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland last month calling the benefit a “legacy social policy” that must be funded in this year’s budget.

“This is not likely to move the needle on poverty rates for the working age adults with disabilities,” said Jennifer Robson, the program director at Carleton University’s School of Political Management and an ad hoc adviser for Disability Without Poverty.

As part of the six-year funding package, the federal government is putting aside $243 million to help offset some of the costs of medical forms required to apply for the Disability Tax Credit.