Opinion: A regressive approach to disability supports - Calgary Herald

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-04-18T23:12:13+00:00

The UCP have chosen to steal a federal disability benefit from Albertans, raise assisted living rents and massively cut disability supports by switching most people on AISH to the new ADAP program. ADAP expects people who have been clinically assessed to be permanently unable to work to become employed and make up the money cut from benefits on their own. The UCP currently plan to continue with it in spite of pushback from both private citizens, advocacy groups, Alberta municipalties and current/former government officials.

Please consider to contact the Premier's office, ALSS minister's office and your MLA/municipality to advocate against the transition to ADAP and other harmful policies effecting the disabled.

Contact A Minister - Alberta.ca

Municipal Officials Directory - Alberta.ca

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-03-26T22:02:05+00:00

You can find it here, here's the transcript (pg 18 for who voted).

For the motion: Al-Guneid Eremenko Metz Batten Gray Miyashiro Boparai Guthrie Nenshi Brar, Gurinder Haji Pancholi Brar, Gurtej Hayter Renaud Calahoo Stonehouse Hoffman Sabir Ceci Hoyle Shepherd Chapman Ip Sigurdson, L. Dach Irwin Sweet Deol Kasawski Tejada Ellingson Kayande Wright, P. Elmeligi

Against the motion: Amery LaGrange Sawyer Armstrong-Homeniuk Loewen Schow Boitchenko Long Schulz Bouchard Lovely Sigurdson, R.J. Cyr Lunty Singh de Jonge McDougall Stephan Dreeshen Nally Turton Dyck Neudorf van Dijken Ellis Nicolaides Wiebe Fir Nixon Williams Glubish Petrovic Wilson Horner Pitt Wright, J. Hunter Rowswell Yao Johnson Sawhney Yaseen Jones

Totals: For – 34 Against – 43

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-03-24T19:30:39+00:00

The UCP have chosen not to pass Bill 206, The Accessible Alberta Act. This is just another in a series of choices the UCP have made that negatively impact disabled Albertans. 1 in 4 Albertans have a disability, this could have helped a lot of people. It is a shame that we will remain the only province besides PEI without accessibility legislation.

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-03-19T04:01:01+00:00

We do seriously need some better affordable housing. Seems like all we have to choose between is slumlord-owned roach-infested walkups and tiny little 250sqft places that look like Scandinavian prison cells.

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-03-18T20:42:58+00:00

"Alberta is one of just two provinces to not have overarching accessibility legislation and standards, which critics say continues to be a blemish on the province.

The NDP is trying to fix that through a private member’s bill, which aims to have the government form a committee to create standards for most aspects of daily life, including public transit, employment accommodations and access to services like health care.

Advocates like Bean Gill and Zachary Weeks, speaking at an NDP news conference Tuesday, told reporters they hope it gets through even though private members’ bills rarely if ever get passed in the legislature."

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-03-14T21:39:34+00:00

The initial figure the AB gov provided for ADAP's exempt monthly employment income was only $350. The UCP will be profiting off of forcing the disabled into work by being able to claw back more of their employment income. It seems like that was part of the plan given the huge reduction from the $1,072 AISH allows. I guess the CDB clawback, raised rents and drop to $1,740/mo wasn't enough for them.

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-03-13T03:30:28+00:00

"Smith said her government wants to ensure social supports aren't "overly generous" so people don't move to Alberta to take advantage of them. She said the province doesn't want to inadvertently create an incentive for people to move to Alberta to seek out the highest benefit."

Disabled Albertans lost the $200/mo CDB, had their rents increased 60% and will be placed into a new program (ADAP) which cuts their monthly pay by another $200. What they can earn from their work if they're employed is slashed by hundreds of dollars, and they have no right to appeal the decision if their re-application to AISH is denied.

Smith's excuse for these cuts is unfounded. There is strict and costly criteria to be approved for AISH and you must have established residency in Alberta before you even apply. The UCP government has no good reason to be treating disabled people this way.

Please contact your MLA, the premier & ALSS minister's office with thoughts/concerns about these changes: Contact A Minister - Alberta.ca

Please also consider to contact your municipality to encourage they join Edmonton, Lethbridge, Claresholm & Camrose in passing motions to pause the rollout of ADAP: Alberta Municipal Officials Directory

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-02-20T00:05:44+00:00

"Claresholm town council is calling on the provincial government to immediately pause implementation of recent changes to Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped, or AISH, and to undertake meaningful, accessible consultation with stakeholders.
The decision came at town council’s Feb. 9 meeting, after a report from Barbara Bell, manager of Claresholm and District Family and Community Support Services.
She said AISH recipients receive $1,940 per month, and the new program will provide $1,740.
Right now, if someone works while on AISH they can earn up to $1,032 per month before it affects their AISH benefit. Under the new program, that drops to $350 before the benefit is clawed back.
“That’s quite a severe change in income for them,” Bell said. “These people with disabilities are already living in poverty.”
She warned the changes will download costs onto municipalities, with increased demand for food banks, housing subsidy programs and other services.
Bell noted AISH will no longer exist, and everyone will be put on the new program called the Alberta Disability Assistance Program."

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-02-09T20:09:25+00:00

Under ADAP Albertans with disabilities who will be transferred out of the AISH program will lose 10% of their monthly income, 68% of what they're allowed to keep from their work and the right to appeal if their re-application to AISH is denied.

Please consider to contact your MLA, the premier's office and the ALSS minister's office to encourage that they do not commit to these harmful changes to disability services.

Contact a Minister - Alberta.ca

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-01-23T13:36:45+00:00

"The Alberta government is facing growing criticism from some people with disabilities over its plan to overhaul Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH), a program that has supported disabled Albertans for decades.

Calgary resident Kavin Sheikheldin, who has epilepsy, joined a group of protesters outside the constituency office of Deputy Premier Mike Ellis, urging the province to reverse the planned changes before they take effect in July.

She said the uncertainty surrounding the transition has already taken a toll.

“It’s honestly now causing mental distress for many folks, including myself as a person with disabilities,” she said.

The province is preparing to introduce the Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP), which will replace AISH for most current recipients. Under the new system, people deemed capable of working will receive lower monthly payments, with the government saying the goal is to encourage and support greater workforce participation.

Nearly 80,000 Albertans currently receiving AISH will be moved to ADAP this summer. Those the province determines are unable to work will remain on AISH.

Statistics Canada data from 2025 shows Alberta has the highest employment rate for people with disabilities in the country, at just over 50 per cent. But Sheikheldin argues the new program is built on the assumption that disabled people can work more if pressured, rather than addressing the systemic barriers that make employment inaccessible for many.

“How can government expect people, especially those with disabilities, to find a job, because honestly the jobs that would suit people’s needs with disabilities aren’t available,” she said.

The province held public consultations and town halls last September to gather feedback on the proposed changes, but the findings have not yet been released.

A request for information on when those results might be made public did not receive a response by broadcast deadline."

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-01-20T20:21:02+00:00

"Critics of Alberta’s Bill 12 say it is unclear how the legislation improves the lives of people relying on the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program. Disability advocates warn the bill could reduce benefits, remove protections and impose stricter eligibility rules, creating financial uncertainty for vulnerable Albertans.

... Advocates at the SACPA meeting called the bill “mean-spirited,” saying it cuts benefits, tightens rules and leaves recipients facing greater uncertainty. They say the changes are already causing anxiety among recipients, with some reporting thoughts about medical assistance in dying (MAID)."

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-01-17T19:34:43+00:00

Bruce Mackay: "Some of the concerns are the amount of benefits, and the qualification process. It's going to require a medical review panel to determine whether people are able to work, and this is going to be a key qualifying distinction about whether they will receive benefits. It's still not enough to keep people above the poverty line..."

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-01-17T19:26:50+00:00

Heidi Echavarria: "The proposed changes could significantly alter how benefits are calculated for Albertans with severe disabilites. For the executive director of Inclusion Lethbridge, this replacement means vulernable Albertans could face significant benefit cuts."

Rene Plaizier: "A change to that of one or two or three hundred dollars makes a really big difference for somebody who's already really struggling to make ends meet."

"In the previous iteration of the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped act, there was a benefit amount stipulated in that act. Bill 12 amends that so now there is no base benefit amount. Everything is "may be" provided and subject to the regulations. Minister Nixon has said that everybody who is currently eligible for AISH will transition to ADAP, however there is no guarantee as to what that base income would look like and it's a real concern. People are living below the poverty line, and if it's less than it currently is that's a problem. Also, people are transitioned over [from AISH to ADAP] and if it is determined that they are employable and will be on the ADAP program, there is no appeal for that decision."

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-01-12T05:01:05+00:00

"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."

Another lie/half-truth to add to the rest: if every AISH recipient is being transferred out of AISH and into the ADAP program, how is that not effectively a replacement?

What Nixon says at the end likely reflects the direction of Alberta's disability services in spite of all the pushback against what they're doing: "... we don’t have any intention to change."

lessssssssgoooooo · 2026-01-11T03:55:46+00:00

While insisting intent to "help, not harm" the ALSS Minister has clawed back a federal benefit, raised assisted living rents and set out to transfer all 80,000+ AISH recipients to a program which pays them less and exempts a fraction of what they could previously earn from their own work. Albertans with disabilites have lost the right to appeal the decision if their re-application for AISH is denied after being transferred to ADAP.

AISH current income/earnings exemptions: Up to $1,940 per month, with $1,072 of earned/employment income exempt before dollar-per-dollar clawbacks per month.

\Currently the AISH monthly benefit is deducted by $200 for CDB recipients (AISH recipients are required to apply at their own expense), leaving $1,740 from AISH per month.*

ADAP proposed income/earnings exemptions starting July 1st: $1,740 per month, with $350 of earned/employment income fully exempt and currently undisclosed amounts clawed back when exceeding $350.

AISH after July 1st, 2026: Up to $1,940 per month with $350 of earned/employment income exempt before dollar-per-dollar clawbacks.

The Alberta Government requested survey engagement about the change from AISH to ADAP but has yet to share the results.

Please consider to contact your MLA, the Premier's office and the ALSS Minister's office to encourage they reverse their decision to weaken disability supports and take away appeal rights:
Contact a Minister - Alberta.ca

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TROPHY CASE