Thank you, Madam Chair. Not directly related, Madam Chair, to the budget before us, but of an overriding interest in this department with it seems it's ever widening social net, Madam Chair, is the commitment and the process that the whole government is engaged in to review all of our social programs, subsidy programs. I think they extend across at least six different departments and it really is a welcome initiative. I think it was undertaken more or less at the beginning of our term and is one that we're hopeful will result in a more streamlined process of social assistance, of support, to our communities and our people, Mr. Chair. This covers everything from student financial assistance to income support, housing, seniors' fuel subsidies, the power support program.
One particular aspect of this that has come up on numerous occasions for myself and constituents is the area of income support policy for adults with disabilities. In very broad terms, our policies are largely set up to provide income support assistance to able bodied people. The philosophy here -- and it's a good one, Mr. Chair, as long as you are able bodied -- is that the income support system is not there to become a lifestyle or a dependency, but it is there for temporary purposes to assist people to get on their feet and make their own way.
Adults with disabilities have a totally different set of criteria. Some adults, to some extent, are able to function and be contributing members of society in limited ways. Others, Mr. Chair, are far more severely disabled but because of our policies, some of these people are forever going to be disabled by our system, if you will, by our policy. They will have very, very little opportunity, if any, to make their own way and, Mr. Chairman, in situations where they are being cared for by family members, once these family members, these parents or perhaps other siblings or aunts or uncles, once these people are no longer able to care for them, they are really going to be in very dire straits.
I know there are models in other jurisdictions that do allow for various policies, for instance, like pensions to be established for disabled adults where the provisions whereby in some cases we claw back limited income some people may have an opportunity to make. This is
fine for an able bodied person. It helps promote the policy, but it really hurts those with disabilities.
So, Mr. Chair, in that context, I wanted to ask the Minister for a bit of a status report on the government-wide review of our support, our social support policies, and specifically to the area of adults with disabilities and how we are looking at modifying our policies with respect of these people, Mr. Chairman.