On November 29, 2022 I asked the Minister of Finance questions on helping Islanders who are struggling financially.
First I asked how we can improve means testing to allow Islanders to qualify for help based on their current means – not last year’s income.
I also asked about centralizing the means testing role to make the process more consistent and efficient – instead of having every department do their own means testing.
Finally, I asked what programs are being considered to help middle income Islanders with inflation -those with household income between $55,000 and $95,000.
Read the full transcript in the PDF file: Hansard-29 November 2022 page 21 of 62. Also see text of the debate below:
Speaker: The hon. Member from Rustico-Emerald.
Mr. Trivers: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like so many in the House, I have constituents who are struggling with the high inflationary costs. I’m not so worried because I know we have a lot of government programs, especially for low-income Islanders.
Some Hon. Members: (Indistinct)
Mr. Trivers: But one constituent, a young father, recently separated, two children, wanted to qualify for the Provincial Dental Care Program but couldn’t. And then another one, a low-income, a couple of seniors, they had their GIS stripped by the federal government. They wanted to qualify for, again, several of the government programs like the Seniors Independence Initiative, but they can’t qualify. I looked into it. I said: Why is this happening? It’s because they’re using last year’s income to qualify them, and this is not a new problem. We’ve heard questions in the House on this before, and I thought we had this fixed.
Some Hon. Members: (Indistinct)
Mr. Trivers: I know. I thought I had it fixed, Mr. Speaker.
An Hon. Member: Obviously you didn’t.
Some Hon. Members: Hear, hear!
Speaker: Question.
Mr. Trivers: I’m going to try the Minister of Finance on this one.
Qualifying for government programs
Minister of Finance, why can’t an applicant’s current financial situation be used to determine qualification for government programs?
Speaker: The hon. Minister of Finance.
Mr. McLane: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the hon. member would know, obviously, we rely on Canada Revenue tax data, so obviously there is a lag in that, in people filing. So, again, it is not the most current to date, but it is the most current that we actually can use. Thank you.
Speaker: The hon. Member from Rustico-Emerald.
Mr. Trivers: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that this can be fixed, and I’d ask the minister to continue to push forward at the Cabinet table. When we look at these programs across different departments, like we’ve got the Provincial Dental Care Program in the Department of Health and Wellness, we’ve got the various efficiencyPEI programs, heat pumps through environment, energy and climate action, and then, of course, we have many programs in social development and housing. But really, the way we means-test is not consistent, and also, it’s not very efficient. Every department has their own group that does different means-testing. It would be really nice if we had a direct line, for example, to the federal government, an agreement with CRA to do that in an efficient way.
Centralized means-testing role
My question to the Minister of Finance: Would you commit to pursuing a centralized means-testing role within government to make it more efficient and ensure consistency across government programs?
Speaker: The hon. Minister of Finance.
Mr. McLane: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the best approach to that question is probably to interact with each department separately.
Some Hon. Members: (Indistinct)
Mr. McLane: Obviously, each department and program has different needs and goals. So, I think to do one across the board may sound simple in theory, but may not be practical in delivering some of these programs.
Speaker: The hon. Member from RusticoEmerald, your second supplementary.
Mr. Trivers: Wow, Mr. Speaker, I think we could actually save money and make it more efficient and more consistent, and I think that’s something that bears (Indistinct) looking at.
Some Hon. Members: (Indistinct)
Mr. Trivers: We have a program, for example, the Down Payment Assistance Program that has a threshold of $95,000 of household income to qualify, and a family making more than $95,000 a year doesn’t qualify, whereas the threshold for a free heat pump is $55,000. One could make an assumption that this is an estimate of what government defines as middle income, between, say, $55,000 and $95,000 household income. These are the Island families who are working really hard. These are the economic base of our province; they are the fabric of what happens here on this Island. We’re in a high inflation period with cost of living increasing significantly –
Speaker: Question.
Mr. Trivers: – for all levels of (Indistinct).
Financial help for middle-income Islanders
Question to the Minister of Finance: What strategies are you considering to help middle-income wage earners with increased cost of living?
Speaker: The hon. Minister of Finance.
Mr. McLane: Thank you; thank the hon. member for the question. I think each department looks at some of these issues each and every day in order to help Islanders. Obviously, the inflationary support payments are one way in the short term that we can deal with these issues. And again, back to your reference to the heat pump program, it’s a stepped program; obviously, demand and our ability to deliver on that. So, I hope to see some more increments as we move up that program, especially with the announcement of the federal government support on that program. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
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