The Ontario government has announced that people receiving social assistance will be able to keep all of their Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) payments without it affecting their regular provincial support.
This means that anyone receiving help through the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), Ontario Works, or the Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities (ACSD) program will still get their full provincial payments, even if they also receive the federal CDB.
The Canada Disability Benefit offers up to $200 per month for eligible low-income Canadians with disabilities. By making this income exempt, Ontario is ensuring that people who rely on social assistance can benefit from the new federal support without seeing their other payments reduced.
The province says this step builds on other actions taken to improve social assistance. These include increasing ODSP and ACSD payments based on inflation, raising the amount of money people can earn before it affects their ODSP payments, and offering more employment support through Ontario Works.
Ontario is also asking the federal government to make changes to the Income Tax Act to help the Canada Disability Benefit reach as many people as possible.
For more details about the Canada Disability Benefit, including who qualifies and how to apply, visit the Government of Canada website.
Written by: K. Milhomens