Minister, in June 2025, you said that the Canada Disability Benefit, or CDB, would raise incomes and restore dignity. Yet, at least one province has announced a reduction mechanism tied to the CDB. It’s functionally a clawback. Advocates also emphasize that grants to organizations, while welcome, do not increase the monthly incomes of disabled Canadians.

Minister, can you tell disabled Canadians that you recognize the need for federal-provincial arrangements, co-developed with disabled Canadians that ensure every person keeps every dollar of the CDB, supported by transparent province-to-province reporting of net income gained? Minister, my Senate colleagues and I are ready to help on these issues.

Thank you, Your Honour.

I’m happy to hear about the advocacy for people with disabilities, one of the most marginalized groups of individuals in our country. In fact, one million people with disabilities are skilled and ready to work, yet still struggle to find meaningful employment in this country, which is such a loss not only for them and their families but also for the many companies that could benefit from their expertise.

You rightly point out that the federal government does contribute to the provincial efforts to ensure that people with disabilities have opportunities to join the workforce. We work with partners to do this, by the way. The federal government supports a number of exemplary agencies around the country that do this work.

You also spoke about the Canada Disability Benefit. That was never meant to replace the disability benefits that are available in various provinces and territories. It was meant to be a supplement. It is disappointing. I know which province you are speaking about, which is, in a way, clawing back that disability benefit. It is difficult to track because of the way it is being conducted. But we have heard that complaint. We have raised this with the province. We will continue to be very vocal about ensuring that any benefit is not clawed back from social assistance.

The last thing that I will say is that you often hear Conservative members of Parliament in the other place talk about the costs of living and how hard people are finding it to make ends meet. I will note that a number of food bank reports and poverty reports indicate that one of the challenges is that social assistance rates, including the —