"We are barely scratching the surface with this so-called biggest line item."
An advocacy group for people with disabilities says the federal government has set aside very little money for a new benefit, and takes issue with a Liberal minister’s claim that it is the biggest line item in the budget.
The government has budgeted $4.8 billion over five years toward the new Canada Disability Benefit, which will provide a maximum of $200 per month to low-income people with disabilities.
Last week, the government released data showing the program is expected to lift 25,000 people out of poverty — far short of the hundreds of thousands the Liberals promised to help.
“It’s very little, for very few,” said Rabia Khedr, director of Disability Without Poverty.
The minister for people with disabilities, Kamal Khera, has defended the program by boasting about how much money the government has put toward it.
“In this particular budget, we got the single largest line item in this budget,” Khera said at a press conference in Brampton, Ont., last week.
It’s a line Khera has repeated several times since the budget was tabled in April, but it’s not true.
The government set aside $7.2 billion over five years to implement the Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit in the same budget, though a portion of those funds was announced in an earlier economic statement.
Overall the 2024 budget lays out $52.9 billion in new spending over five years. That includes $8.1 billion in new defence spending.