Last Updated: Thursday, December 6, 2007 | 12:47 PM AT
CBC News
The implementation of a new federal disabilities pension plan is being delayed by other provinces, causing unnecessary harm to P.E.I. residents, says the co-ordinator of the P.E.I Council for the Disabled.
Patti Butler said the current disabilities pension plan, which requires people to pay in for at least four of the previous six years to receive a pension, forces people to work too many hours to qualify.
“They’re trying to work to put food on the table, they’re trying to work and they’re pushing themselves and they’re making themselves sicker,” she said.
Last May, Ottawa changed the pension scheme to allow people who paid in to the pension plan in three of the last six years to receive a disability pension. However, for the law to come into effect, two-thirds of the provinces, constituting two-thirds of the population, must show support.
P.E.I. has signed the bill, but the law is being delayed by other provinces. About 50 people with disabilities on the Island are affected by the pension plan. Butler is lobbying the federal government to put the new pension into action now
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