Michael Prince says the amount of funding for the benefit in this week’s federal budget is too small, covers too few people and is too complicated to access.
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Published April 19, 2024 • 2 minute reading
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OTTAWA – One of Canada’s top disability academics is resigning from a federal advisory board, saying the government did not adequately fund the disability benefit.
Michael Prince, a professor of social policy at the University of Victoria, says he is deeply disappointed with the Canada Disability Benefit.
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He will resign from Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera’s advisory group with immediate effect, saying he has come to the conclusion that his voice no longer makes a difference.
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Prince says the amount of funding for the benefit in this week’s federal budget is too small, covers too few people and is too complicated to access.
The government is setting aside $6.1 billion over five years to run the program and has set the maximum annual benefit at $2,400 per person.
That’s $200 a month, or about $6 a day.
Advocates, who have unanimously expressed disappointment with the program since the budget was released, say it falls far short of what is needed to help the estimated 1.2 million Canadians with disabilities living in poverty.
Prince noted that the government estimates that the benefit will reach only 600,000 people and will not be available until 2025.
The Liberal government has been talking about creating the disability benefits program for years.
It introduced legislation in 2021, held lengthy consultations, and finally passed the Canada Disability Benefits Act in July 2023.
The stated intent of the law is to create a benefit to “reduce poverty and support the financial security of working-age people with disabilities.”
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“Unlike previous statements about the intended effects of the Canada Disability Benefit, there is no mention (in the budget) of it having significant effects on poverty reduction,” Prince wrote in his resignation letter.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland defended the program at a news conference in Toronto on Friday, saying the Liberals have done more than any other federal government in history to help people living with disabilities.
“It would be great to be able to do more and we aspire to that,” he said.
Freeland also said her government will work with provinces and territories to ensure federal money does not result in the clawback of other benefits. Advocates had pushed hard to include specific language on this in the law, but liberals did not include it.
Prince said the government has not taken strong federal responsibility on this issue.
“History teaches us that important income support reforms often come from federal leadership in investment and program reform,” he wrote.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2024.
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