One in five Canadians lives with a disability. They need our support – to live full lives and participate fully in society, including in the workforce. Canada’s Conservatives have a plan to break down the barriers faced by Canadians living with disabilities.
Doubling Disability Support in the Canada Workers Benefit
A disproportionate number of disabled Canadians are working part-time or for low wages.
Canada’s Conservatives will double the Disability Supplement in the Canada Workers Benefit from $713 to $1,500, providing a major boost to lower-income disabled Canadians on top of our increase in the Canada Workers Benefit.
The most help will go to families where one member has a disability. We will help them achieve the security and financial independence they deserve.
Making Work Pay
Canada’s Conservatives will ensure that going to work never costs a disabled person money – as is too often the case today. The complex web of programs in place today means that someone can lose more than a dollar – in benefit cuts and higher taxes – for every dollar they earn by working. This means that for many disabled Canadians, the harder they work, the poorer they become.
This is simply wrong.
We will overhaul the complex array of disability supports and benefits to ensure that working always leaves someone further ahead. And we will work with the provinces to ensure that federal programs are designed to work with provincial programs to achieve this result.
This will augment the effect of our increase to the Canada Workers Benefit, which will help make work pay for disabled Canadians by boosting the benefits of work.
Boosting the Enabling Accessibility Fund
We will provide an additional $80 million per year through the Enabling Accessibility Fund to provide:
- Additional incentives for small business and community projects to improve accessibility.
- Grants and support for all types of accessibility equipment that disabled Canadians need to work.
- Enhancements to existing programs that will get more disabled Canadians into the workforce.
Making it Easier to Qualify for the Disability Tax Credit and Registered Disability Savings Plan
To give more Canadians with disabilities access to financial support, we will reduce the number of hours required to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) and the Registered Disability Savings Plan from 14 to 10 hours per week.
In 2017, Justin Trudeau took away the support that thousands of Canadians relied on when he changed how Canadians qualify for the Disability Tax Credit and the Registered Disability Savings Plan. To some, this credit was worth thousands of dollars. Conservatives joined diabetes advocates to successfully fight back against this tax grab.
Our changes will save a disabled person made eligible for the tax credit or their family an average of $2,100 per year.
Making it easier to qualify for the tax credit will also make it easier to qualify for the RDSP, which provides up to $3,500 per year in matching grants for Canadians with disabilities.