Canadians with disabilities get help in federal budget, but critics warn it’s not enough

The funding of the benefit comes as advocates had grown increasingly anxious another budget would go by without a clear timeline on when to expect the roll out to begin.

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.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have also been under fire to fund the benefit by the Green Party – which had the benefit as a priority in this budget – the NDP, and some Conservative MPs.

But while the new funding will come as a welcome surprise to some, it also leaves many questions unanswered and is expected to draw criticism for the funding amount and eligibility requirements.

“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.

Because regulations were never included in the original bill, estimates from advocates and economists, including the Parliamentary Budget Officer, had varied depending on what they hoped or expected the benefit to cover.

Now, specific regulations have still to be announced, leaving out details on the frequency of payments, what other income will trigger clawback payments and what the maximum family income threshold will be.

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

As of now, 492,000 working-age adults have the certificate – and the federal government hopes that number will go up to 600,000 in the first few years of the benefit’s implementation.

It also remains to be seen how the provinces and territories, many of which have their own disability benefit programs, will respond to the announcement – which the federal government says should supplement existing benefits and not replace them – though it cannot enforce that.

Depending on how provinces respond – for example, if they include the benefit when calculating their own income-tested benefits – some could lose access to other programs.

And clawbacks based on family income might disproportionately affect women in relationships, leaving them dependent on their partners, Robson said.

“The plumbing is now in place, and hopefully over time, the benefit level could be increased and enhanced,” she told the Star. “It’s just that experience tends to suggest that that’s not, generally speaking, what happens.”