QUESTION PERIOD — Employment and Social Development
Canada Disability Benefit
May 1, 2024
Senator Gold, Budget 2024 includes the launch of the Canada disability benefit. The benefit is based upon the recipient having a Disability Tax Credit certificate. As we heard moments ago, May is Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, Awareness Month. MS Canada has been calling for the benefit to include those with episodic disabilities as defined in the Accessible Canada Act.
Senator Gold, is there any policy move toward including eligibility criteria to accommodate persons with lifelong episodic disabilities like multiple sclerosis?
Thank you for raising the question and to our guests here for the work you do to support research, the communities and families who suffer from MS. It touches many of us in this chamber.
I will raise this question with the minister because I simply don’t know at what stage those considerations are at. Thank you.
Thank you, Senator Gold. I appreciate that.
Access to health care has been much discussed recently, as has pharmacare. Access is a principle of the Canada Health Act, yet access to drug therapies to treat MS for the more than 90,000 Canadians who suffer varies between provinces and territories. Yes, health care is a provincial-territorial responsibility, and, yes, the government is working on federal pharmacare. It’s also working on health care program funding, generally, seeking accountability on federal health care funding —
I’ll certainly add that to my questions.
