Well here we are again just 2 years later voting for another federal election. We are a disabled couple as you know and this is a Disability Blog mostly aimed at people with Disabilities on Social Assistance Across Canada.
We are on a program called ODSP – Ontario Disability Support Program. Similar programs exist throughout Canada that are about 50% under the poverty line. One of our greatest wishes in our household is for the Federal Government to finally bring in a program to help Canadians with Disabilities just like they do with Child Support. Sort of help pick up the slack especially since it’s a Canadian wide issue and not just Ontario.
The good news is that 2 of the 3 Main parties have a plan to bring just that to us. That being said were not quite sure about the one party as their constant not following through their plans is sadly quite too common… So let’s begin and talk about them in the Order of what I think each party is offering the best plan to those of us who need financial assistance.
New Democratic Party – NDP:
A livable income when you need it
We’ll start this work immediately by lifting every senior and person living with a disability out of poverty, and build from there until every Canadian can count on a basic livable income when they need it. This will be complimented by bold new investments in housing, health care, post-secondary education and training to set all Canadians up to succeed.
Right away NDP want to jump in and make sure all seniors and people living with disabilities get out of Poverty by pretty much having a UBI like system. We already did it for working people of $2,000 a Month with CERB so why can’t we do it for our Disabled Canadians?
This hands down is the best Plan so far the only downside is the chances of them actually getting into power is extremely slim, but that is because our next guys ruined the electoral system…
Liberals:
Re-introduce a Disability Benefit Act which will create a direct monthly payment, the Canada Disability Benefit, for low-income Canadians with disabilities ages 18-64.
Once implemented this new benefit will reduce poverty among persons with disabilities in the same manner as the Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Canada Child Benefit.
I’m fine with this. It’s clearly not going to get Disabled people out of poverty as it says reduce rather then pull them out… But here is the biggest issue…. Will they actually follow through with said plan? We seen how they run long enough to say this has a slim chance of even happening if they form a majority Government….
The next issue is how much? Are they going boost it above Child Support now? An adult is a lot more expensive than a child and with Disabilities those costs can increase a lot. Even $200 a more a Month is better then what we get now, but we really hope this is closer to the $1000 mark.
The last thing we need to worry about is how would Province Leaders take this change? Doug Ford did not mind Clawing back CERB so why not this as well? That is the scary part right now with a system that should be Canada wide and not province to province.
Conservatives:
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. This extra support will help them achieve the security and financial independence they deserve.
Now the Conservatives had a lot to say. But all of it was gloating about tax credits, RSP Savings, everything that benefits someone who can work and those who can’t work or can only work a little bit… Pretty much it was the same old story as if you can’t work your garbage to us. Their new feature is no different once again. If you can work you deserve more money and more tax breaks. The richer you are in Canada the less tax you pay.. It’s a strange system we seem to keep going for…
Conclusion:
I personally doubt the Liberal will follow through their plan, but it’s ammo to use against them. They tend to come out with so called great plans when their about to get voted out… Happen with the Liberals in Ontario with almost 15 years of power and then finally they decided to do a bit of good and lost the election by a landslide… Even if they go through it there is a big chance they will put it off more than 4 years or rather yet destroy themselves by calling an election 2 years in…. At least if they get into Power we have ammo to use against them.
The NDP on the other hand has a great sounding plan and yet the chances of them getting into power is next to impossible thanks to the Liberals screwing that up on one of their promises a while back. We are stuck to strategically voting to prevent the Conservatives in or face a Conservative government… Normally those end up in cuts…
Once again though I don’t think I seen any big media talking about the Disability community in Canada that makes up a large number of people. We are always left out and in many ways we are treated like 2nd/3rd world countries because we are disabled. None of us wanted this, but it’s what it is and we need to stop this whole discriminations against people with Disabilities today and not tomorrow.
Please remember that you can vote by Mail and I highly suggest everyone voting. Make sure you tells your friends, family, etc to vote as it’s important and some people need a slap to remind them that voting is important and to get into the habit of it.