MEDIA RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

FROM DISABILITY ALLIANCE BC

The BC Budget 2019 is good news for people with disabilities.

There’s a lot for people with disabilities to celebrate in the BC 2019 budget announced February 19, says Disability Alliance BC.

DABC’s Executive Director Justina Loh said, “There are some significant changes that tell us the government is on the right track. The $50 raise to disability and regular income assistance rates will make a big difference in our clients’ lives. And the $26 million investment in the BC Employment and Assistance program to remove barriers to disability assistance and social assistance will mean many more people will be able to take advantage of our social safety net.”

Loh said that continued strong investment in public health care is a huge boost to the quality of life for people with disabilities, including funding for health care providers in training, more supports for parents of children with special needs, PharmaCare, elimination of MSP premiums, hospitals, urgent primary care centres, diagnostic services like MRIs, and mental health addiction services.

“We also applaud the government’s considerable investment in affordable housing,” said Loh. DABC is urging a further change: the creation of a portable rental supplement for people with disabilities as an essential plank in the government’s housing and homelessness prevention program. This rental supplement would give people with disabilities a broader range of housing options, including private market rental units.

Other very positive investments improve access to education, training and employment such as the elimination of all interest from student loans effective immediately, improvements to WorkBC employment training programs and additional funding to the Employment Standards Branch to update employment standards.

“We’re proud that BC has now joined other Canadian provinces with this commitment to poverty reduction. We look forward to hearing more details about Minister Simpson’s poverty reduction plan which will be released in March. Bringing people with disabilities out of poverty will require a significant investment and we anticipate seeing some significant changes in the near future,” said Loh.

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For more information, please contact Justina Loh at jloh@disabilityalliancebc.therightfitbc.org or call 604-875-0188.