NDP leave people with disabilities without the promised January supports

 

BC Liberal MLA for Peace River North Dan Davies is calling on John Horgan to come clean and tell British Columbians just about how many people with disabilities will not receive his promised one-time payment by January, the first month that the NDP’s plan to slash COVID disabilities income assistance in half comes into effect. “John Horgan spent weeks leading up to the Christmas holidays insisting his government’s one-time payment to British Columbians with disabilities was sufficient, despite slashing income assistance funding,” said Davies. “Advocacy groups, communities, and the BC Liberal caucus warned the NDP about the barriers they were putting up for people with disabilities, but they chose to recklessly steam ahead, leaving hundreds of thousands without the aid they were promised.” Despite NDP promises that British Columbians would have their one-time payment of $500 by Christmas, a mere 15 per cent of eligible British Columbians received their money. Thousands of British Columbians cited that they were burdened by a lengthy and challenging application process, which scaled the payments on pre-pandemic income, and were later notified that their money would be delayed for weeks after. “Monthly income and disability assistance payments are supposed to go out next week, and British Columbians deserve to know if Horgan was true to his word,” concluded Davies. “The NDP needs to come forward now and admit just how many British Columbians with disabilities will see a gap in the supports they were promised, and just how many will be left high and dry amid the second wave of the pandemic.”