Q&A: Nixon vows no budget cuts to Alberta disability benefits, defends level of support

Alberta’s new disability program, which provides lower monthly payments but fewer clawbacks if the person earns employment income, is set to launch this July. 

The province has stressed the Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP) will not replace the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program, which caters to people who are substantially and permanently limited in their ability to work. However, there are still concerns from recipients of both programs about potential clawbacks and payments not matching the cost of living.

Postmedia spoke to Assisted Living and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon about these matters, including the potential for cuts to the programs and details on the medical review panel that will assess applications.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

ADAP is supposed to launch this July, but there are still a lot of questions, such as who’s going to be on that medical review panel and is there going to be more legislation?

There won’t be any more legislation. The enabling legislation passed just before Christmas. There will be regulations that will come out over the next couple of months that will finalize the rest of the system. Specifically in the medical review panel will be medical experts. So it will be qualified medical professionals that will be made up of that panel. That will be put together before July and will be announced in the next couple months. But to be clear, there won’t be government bureaucrats. It will be medical professionals.

The main concern we’ve been hearing from a lot of AISH recipients is that the benefit levels still do not reflect the cost of housing and living in Alberta. How would you respond to that?

Alberta doesn’t just have the highest — we have the highest by country mile. That doesn’t mean though, that people who are on the program don’t feel that they need more. I’m very sympathetic to that, but it does show you the overall cost of the program compared to other jurisdictions. We’re spending $3.6 billion on disability supports in Alberta. It’s a pretty significant amount of investment the taxpayers put in because we think it’s important.

We also have, on top of things like support payments, we have subsidized housing that partners to keep housing low that’s based on 30 per cent of your income. Often, many people on AISH are accessing housing through that type of support. We also have other medical supports, other support programs that beef up supports for individuals that are on AISH.

What I can say is that we are proud to have the highest payments in the country. We think this is a very important issue, and we continue to invest billions of dollars inside the space to try to be able to make sure that we have the best disability programs in Canada and currently we do.

What about concerns that even though it’s the highest, it doesn’t match the current need? For example the maximum amount a person would get on AISH ($1,940 per month) is still below the poverty line.

It is the highest in the country. It’s the highest it’s ever been in Alberta. The UCP government is the only government that did things like index it (to inflation) to increase its payments. It’s hundreds of dollars more than when the NDP were in power.

When we take the math on, you have to take into account both the federal and provincial supports, the medical supports, and the fact that it’s tax free and it hovers above the poverty line when you put all of those supports into place. Also, many individuals on AISH are receiving Persons with Developmental Disabilities supports on top of that, and again, investments inside things like rent subsidies, investments for children that have disabled parents, all of those things have to be taken into account for their programs.

A person inside Calgary is receiving hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars more a month than a person inside downtown Toronto. And I think downtown Toronto certainly has a higher cost of living.

When it comes to ADAP and AISH, people are concerned about budget cuts, is that something that they should be anticipating?

No, and each has not received a budget cut in the last budget, the budget before that, or in any budget. We have continued to hold our rates indexed through that process, as we’ve committed to that in legislation. So while I appreciate some people are worried about that, they don’t need to be worried about it, because it’s legislated by law and we don’t have any intention to change.

ctran@postmedia.com

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