Advocates push back on Danielle Smith's comment that people are moving to Alberta for social programs

Some disability advocates in Alberta are looking for clarity after Premier Danielle Smith said she wants to ensure people aren't moving to the province just to use its social programs.

On Thursday, 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.

She argued this was a reason why Alberta included tighter eligibility requirements for seniors' benefits in last week's provincial budget, and why Alberta plans to make changes to its Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program.

“That was one of the reasons why we knew we had to bring AISH payments in alignment with other jurisdictions, because we’d heard that people were moving here just to be on social programs,” said Smith.

“We think people should be taxpayers first and should be moving here to pay taxes, not to be on social programs.”

The province plans to move AISH recipients to a new program on July 1, which disability advocates say will mean a $200 monthly reduction in income.

CBC Calgary asked Smith's office how many people have moved to Alberta to access AISH, but did not receive an answer by press time.

Inclusion Alberta CEO Trish Bowman said her organization previously asked the province for evidence people are moving to Alberta to access AISH, but have not received data backing up this argument.

“If we're going to be making social policy that affects tens of thousands of Albertans, it should be based on evidence, and it should be evidence that's available to all of us,” said Bowman.

It's unlikely many people would leave their communities and pay moving costs to come to Alberta for AISH, Bowman said. She said while Alberta has historically had some of the best benefits in Canada, she worries that's changing.

“We should be striving, actually, to be ensuring that people who need the support that they require have access to that to live with dignity,” said Bowman.

Provincial data shows AISH caseloads have steadily risen for at least 15 years.

In the last decade, that coincides with a national increase in the country’s disability rate. Statistics Canada’s most recent Canadian Survey on Disability in 2022 found 27 per cent of people age 15 and older had one or more disabilities limiting them in daily activities, up five percentage points since 2017.

Bowman said she's heard from people who currently rely on AISH who worry how they will make ends meet after their monthly benefits are reduced.