By Kendall Worth!
The important question is Can it happen?
The answer? We have to push for it!!!
The following tweet makes the case for an Emergency Fund clear:
In a previous blog post I wrote about how inflation continues to be out of control. I also wrote about how income assistance recipients are having to put groceries back, for the fist time ever, to be able to afford to check out.
In the meantime, Bill C22 has passed 3rd reading on Friday February 3rd 2023, as the Minister tweeted to confirm:
So the questions coming from the Disability Community now, is, what is next?
In these tweets there is an assumption that the disability benefit will be something like CERB, at that rate, since it will be short lived. However, all signs are that no Emergency fund is in the works.
In Nova Scotia, the Standard Household Rate for people on Income Assistance is $950.00 a month and next to no money (or NO money!) is left once rent and bills are paid. The May-tree Report provides the data that indicates welfare incomes are essentially no different, in other provinces across Canada. In most of these provinces, -- Ontario has got the ODSP for Persons with Disabilities -- for most people (there is also the CPP disability program, but most people require a provincial top up) these allowances are the only thing available that even comes close to a disability living allowance, and it is NOT ENOUGH to live on.
There are also questions and concerns about how much the government will demand, of jumping through hoops, and bureaucratic run around before people can qualify, even after the new Disability Benefit becomes available?
Many of us with disabilities, already qualify for the Disability Tax Credit through Revenue Canada. Should those of us who already qualify for the Disability Tax Credit automatically receive the Disability Benefit once it becomes available?
In the meantime the out of control inflation needs to be addressed, while people wait for the new Disability Benefit to be available.
It is because of out of control inflation that, these days, people are skipping meals and resorting to thinking about Medically Assisted Death. If the Disability Benefit already existed and if the provided allowance was enough to live on, after rent and bills are paid, then those are things, persons with disabilities would not be resorting to.
Better yet, as I talked about in this article (which includes a video of me speaking at the 2022 Basic Income Conference, in Halifax, Nova Scotia) why doesn’t Canada just move to a Guaranteed Basic Income??
Something has got to happen soon!
Comments
Post a Comment