Please read the following joint letter sent by Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich–Gulf Islands and Leader of the Green Party of Canada, and Mike Morrice, MP for Kitchener Centre, to the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities, the Hon. Kamal Khera, regarding the finalization of the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) regulations:
The Honourable Kamal Khera January 23, 2025
Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities of Canada
Dear Minister Khera,
We are writing today to urge you to follow the calls of organizations that serve folks with disabilities and guarantee the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) will be paid out as promised beginning July 1, 2025.
To do this, your government must finalize the regulations required for the CDB by March 7, 2025.
With Parliament prorogued until March 24, and the potential for a spring election increasingly likely, the $243-million program announced in Budget 2024 to help working-aged people with disabilities access the Disability Tax Credit is also at risk if the government doesn’t act now.
While we continue to call for your government to fix and fully fund the CDB – as per Mike’s submission in response to the draft regulations in September 2024 (appended to this letter) – we want to be sure that at the very least, the limited support announced last year gets to those eligible starting July 1, irrespective of the political theatre of the day. The stakes are high: 1.6 million people with disabilities are living below the poverty line, and it has already taken the government far too long to begin paying the CDB to those who are eligible.
Your government made draft regulations public last June, and has already received public feedback on them. It’s time to act.
As the minister responsible for the CDB, we continue to call on you to honour your government’s commitment to substantially improve the quality of life of Canadians with disabilities and we request a meeting with you to discuss the above with you further.
Mike Morrice,
MP for Kitchener Centre
Elizabeth May
Leader of the Green Party of Canada
MP for Saanich—Gulf Islands
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Summary of Mike’s Submission on the Draft Regulations for the Canada Disability Benefit:
1. Remove barriers to application by automatically enrolling recipients of provincial and territorial disability support programs, as well as recipients of CPP-D, in the Canada Disability Benefit, and removing the requirement for applicants to hold a Disability Tax Credit certificate.
2. Further remove barriers to the application by replacing the proposed second application with a simple opt-out option for individuals who do not wish to receive the Canada Disability Benefit.
3. Support the independence and dignity of people with disabilities by means-testing the Canada Disability Benefit against the individual applicant’s income alone.
4. Increase the maximum amount of the Canada Disability Benefit, to lift people with disabilities above the poverty line, taking into account the added costs of living with a disability.
5. Raise the income threshold to an amount that is above the poverty line, taking into account the added costs of living with a disability.
6. Fast-track the implementation and delivery of the Canada Disability Benefit.
7. Issue retroactive payments for recipients, dating back to when the Canada Disability Benefit Act received royal assent in June of 2023.