Disability benefit draws criticism
Some Canadians say they’re ‘heartbroken’ at Trudeau government falling short on its promises
A historic federal disability benefit that will target lowincome people with disabilities across the country has been finally funded in this year’s budget, but it’s drawing fierce criticism from advocates and opposition parties who say it will have little impact.
With $6.1 billion over the first six years and $1.4 billion annually after that, the benefit is an attempt to deliver on a promise Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government made nearly four years ago — that disability supports in provinces had been inadequate for far too long, and it was time Ottawa stepped in and supported the more than one million Canadians with disabilities living in poverty.
Here’s what you need to know.
What is the disability benefit?
The federal Liberals first promised a nation-wide disability benefit in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s faced numerous delays, including a snap election, a cabinet reshuffle and a lengthy regulatory process. A formal bill was tabled in Parliament in 2021, but it died when Trudeau called an election later that year. The Liberals campaigned on bringing in a benefit intended to reduce poverty similar to the Canada Child Benefit and Guaranteed Income Supplement, and restarted the process in 2022 — but the bill included few details and gave the government until 2025 to implement it.
What the government made clear at the time was that it would be available to working-age people with disabilities and that it will take into account the poverty line and additional costs people with disabilities face.
Since then, the government has been consulting with disability advocates, but the delays led to frustration among many who feared Ottawa had abandoned its promise.
Amid high inflation, budgetary pressures and talks of fiscal restraint, optimism waned, and in the lead-up to the budget, 47 Liberal MPs joined opposition parties to publicly push the government to fund it.
How much is the benefit and who qualifies?
The federal government delivered and funded the benefit in the budget tabled Tuesday — but critics say the amount is too little, covers too few people, and has too many obstacles to qualify for it.
The benefit will offer a maximum amount of $2,400 a year indexed to inflation, or $200 a month and be tax-free but income-tested. It’s expected to roll out starting July 2025 and cover 600,000 Canadians with disabilities over time, though not right away due to barriers obtaining a disability tax credit — a requirement for eligibility.
“We weren’t expecting much … but we are heartbroken, deeply disappointed, feeling devalued,” said Rabia Khedr, the national director of Disability Without Poverty. “We felt we had some power, but we’ve been reminded that our power doesn’t matter.”
The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated the annual benefit should have been at least $14,356 per person before clawbacks to address the gap between welfare and the poverty threshold in any area in Canada (provinces and territories have varying levels of disability support). The government is also putting $243 million over six years and $41 million annually after that to cover the costs of medical forms required to obtain the disability tax credit, which requires doctor’s approval. But that system has received its fair share of criticism, too.
“Most people living in the deepest of poverty don’t want to pay a doctor to fill out a form to get a tax credit that doesn’t get them anything because they have no income,” Khedr said.
What’s not yet clear, however, is what the maximum income and phaseout rates will be, and whether any provinces will clawback their own payments. In Ontario, the maximum disability assistance is $1,308 per month.
What has been the reaction?
After years of hope, outrage was instant. On Thursday, a coalition of the country’s biggest disability advocacy organizations released a statement decrying the benefit as “simply not enough.”
“It’s deeply, deeply distressing when what is required in the government’s own legislation is sort of ignored,” Amanda MacKenzie, the national director of March of Dimes Canada, told the Star.
In Ottawa, meanwhile, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May called the funding “checkbox politics,” while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party could not support the budget until key concerns, including the disability benefit, were addressed.
“How is (Trudeau) going to justify to people living with disabilities that $200 a month is enough to meet their needs? I need to hear a plan on that before making a decision,” Singh told reporters after the budget was tabled.
The Trudeau government, for its part, acknowledged those concerns. “We recognize there is more to do. We will be working with provinces and territories to make sure, first of all, that this disability money is not clawed back and, secondly, that we can do even more in partnership with provinces and territories for Canadians with disabilities,” Trudeau said Wednesday.