Ed: This is the Liberal Response to our question on disabilities and Disability Support. The document appears to be a speaking document for Robert Ghiz. It seems quite comprehensive. Especially interesting is possible removal of means testing.
The Liberal Party of PEI is committed to connecting people throughout the province. More public and accessible transport is a need that has been identified by both people and municipalities across Prince Edward Island.
“If the Liberals get elected and implement this platform Islanders with disabilities have hope for a better tomorrow,” Stephen Pate, founder PEI Disability Alert
The Liberal Party is committed to addressing long-standing needs in the area of accessible and affordable housing. As Leader of the Liberal Party of PEI I am committed to establishing the PEI Housing Corporation as a Crown agency with full responsibility for the administration of social housing and the construction of new social housing units using federal housing money held in trust. As part of this we would look at making part of the mandate of the PEI Housing Corporation the establishment of fixed percentages of accessible units in new construction.
The Liberal Party of PEI will also commit to making it part of the mandate of the PEI Housing Corporation that it retrofit a certain percentage of existing seniors and family housing units to make them accessible.
The Liberal Party, upon forming government, will carry out a full review of the Disability Support Program (DSP) to enhance its effectiveness and use the results of this review consider broadening the current definition of disabled used under the DSP to accommodate a fuller spectrum of those living with disabilities, including seniors.
The requirement for the “client contribution” or means tested user fee will be part of this overall review of the DSP. The review will be focused on making sure that the complete range of services provided to Islanders living with physical and intellectual disabilities protects their interests, this should be the primary focus.
The Liberal Party of PEI believes that government has both a moral and legal imperative to support those with disabilities. Islanders with disabilities need to have access to adequate housing and care. We are committed to improving services to support Islanders living with disabilities.
Some of the key elements of our commitment are as follows:
• Conducting a review of the Disability Support Program in terms of eligibility, services/needs covered, application/appeal process, and the overall adequacy of funding.
• Using the results of this review to define new funding levels and provincial commitments for Islanders with disabilities.
• Increasing home and vehicle modification funding for Islanders with disabilities by removing the cap on one-time funding restrictions.
• Increasing the disability tax credit to match the current federal tax credit immediately.
• Establishing a Standing Committee of the Legislature for Seniors and Islanders Living with Disabilities.
• Advocating for increases to the Health and Social Transfer that would target increased federal transfers to address the needs of Islanders living with disabilities.
• Enacting trust legislation to allow parents to provide for the future needs of their adult children with disabilities.
• Directing more social funding to family members who assume the care of a son or daughter living with a disability.
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