By Canadian Press

Bill to create Canada Disability Benefit reintroduced but with few details

Jun 2, 2022 | 12:18 PM

OTTAWA — The federal government has reintroduced legislation to create a monthly benefit cheque for working-age Canadians with disabilities but Ottawa still can’t say who will qualify, how much they’d get or when the cheques will start flowing.

The Canada Disability Benefit is to be modelled after the Guaranteed Income Supplement, fulfilling a promise first made by the Liberals in September 2020.

The original bill introduced almost a year ago died without passing when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called an election last summer.

The new version tabled today by Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough is identical to the original and leaves almost every detail on how the benefit will work to regulations that haven’t yet been finalized.

Qualtrough says there are already federal supports for children and seniors with disabilities but there is nothing for people with disabilities between 19 and 64 years old.

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She says the “harsh reality” is that one in four Canadians with disabilities lives below the poverty line and this benefit will be designed to change that.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2022.

The Canadian Press