CALGARY — Lisa Beaudry keeps a spreadsheet on her kitchen table. It is not a budget in any aspirational sense. It is a triage document — a monthly exercise in deciding which bills to pay and which to ignore, which meals to skip so her medication doesn’t run out, which winter days to keep the thermostat at 14 degrees because the gas bill is already past due.
Beaudry, 41, lives in a basement suite in Red Deer. She has multiple sclerosis, degenerative disc disease, and clinical depression. She has been on Alberta’s Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped — AISH — since 2017. Her monthly benefit is $1,940. Her rent is $1,200. That leaves $740 for food, utilities, medication co-pays, transportation, phone, hygiene products, and everything else a human being needs to survive.
In just over three months, on July 1, 2026, the Alberta government plans to move Beaudry — along with tens of thousands of other severely disabled Albertans — off AISH and onto a new program called the Alberta Disability Assistance Program, or ADAP. The new program’s maximum benefit is $1,740 per month. That is $200 less than what she receives now.
"Two hundred dollars," Beaudry said, her hands trembling — a symptom of her MS, not her anger, though both are present. "That’s my groceries for the month. That’s the difference between eating and not eating. And they’re calling it a reform."
The Great Rebrand: AISH to ADAP
On August 13, 2025, the Alberta government released its ADAP Discussion Guide — a 24-page document that proposed the most sweeping overhaul of disability income supports in the province’s history. The core proposition: all 79,290 current AISH recipients would be automatically transferred to the new ADAP program on July 1, 2026, unless they could prove they were unable to work.
Those who could demonstrate a total inability to work would be allowed to remain on AISH — but only after undergoing a new medical assessment. Those who could not, or who failed to navigate the reassessment process, would be placed on ADAP at the lower $1,740 rate.
The government framed the change as empowerment. Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services Jason Nixon said ADAP was "thoughtfully designed based on input from Albertans with disabilities" to help people who want to enjoy "the benefits that come with employment, such as earning a paycheque, building relationships, developing skills, and providing a sense of purpose, belonging and independence."
Disability advocates heard something different.
"Let’s ask ourselves, can we live on $1,700 a month with the increasing cost of living? It’s unrealistic." — Tony Flores, Alberta’s first Advocate for Persons with Disabilities
Flores, whose office was created to represent disabled Albertans, broke with the government publicly over the ADAP plan. His words, reported by CBC News, represent a remarkable rebuke from a government-appointed official.
The Numbers: What ADAP Actually Means
WestNet News analyzed the ADAP proposal in detail, using government documents, fact sheets published by Inclusion Alberta, and analysis from the Enough for All coalition. The financial picture is stark:
- Maximum AISH benefit (current): $1,940/month for individuals who rent or own
- Maximum ADAP benefit (July 2026): $1,740/month — a $200/month or $2,400/year reduction
- Employment income exemption under current AISH: $1,072/month — meaning recipients can earn up to $1,072 before their benefits are clawed back
- Employment income exemption under ADAP: Initially proposed at $350/month; later revised to $700/month after public backlash — still a 35% cut from the current AISH level
- Total AISH caseload (September 2025): 79,290 Albertans — 86% of whom are single individuals
- Budget cut: The 2025 Alberta budget cut AISH funding by $49 million
The government has promised a "transition benefit" that will keep payments at the current AISH rate until December 31, 2027. After that, the full $200 cut takes effect — unless the recipient has successfully reapplied for AISH through the new medical assessment process.
But that reassessment process is where advocates say the real damage will be done.
The Reassessment Trap
Under the new system, a single application will be used for both AISH and ADAP. An adjudicator will review each applicant’s medical information to determine whether they qualify for ADAP (the lower-benefit "able to work" stream) or should be referred to a panel of medical professionals for potential AISH eligibility.
In other words, the government will decide whether you are disabled enough to deserve the higher benefit. And if you disagree with their assessment, the burden of proof is on you.
"The people who are going to be hurt worst are the ones who always fall through the cracks — people with episodic disabilities, mental health conditions, chronic pain, invisible illnesses," said Trish Bowman, executive director of the Voice of Albertans with Disabilities (VAD). "These are people whose disabilities don’t photograph well, but who absolutely cannot sustain full-time employment. Under this system, they’ll be deemed ‘able to work’ and lose $200 a month."
Those who want to be reassessed for AISH will need a new medical assessment — a process that typically costs between $200 and $500 out of pocket. The government has said it will cover the cost of one medical assessment for current AISH clients who are transitioned to ADAP and later choose to reapply for AISH. But critics note that many recipients will need assessments from multiple specialists, and the promise covers only one.
Who Gets to Stay on AISH?
In March 2026, following intense advocacy pressure, the government announced limited exemptions. The following groups will not be required to reapply and will remain on AISH automatically:
- Individuals with severe and profound developmental disabilities, including those eligible for PDD (Persons with Developmental Disabilities) services
- Anyone with a palliative or terminal medical condition
- People living in continuing care homes
- AISH recipients over 60 years of age
Advocates called the exemptions a partial victory — but noted they leave the vast majority of AISH recipients facing reassessment.
"If you’re 42 with severe MS, you’re not exempt. If you’re 35 with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, you’re not exempt. If you’re 50 with a traumatic brain injury, you’re not exempt," Bowman said. "The exemptions protect a fraction of the caseload. Everyone else is in limbo."
The Deindexation Scar
The ADAP transition does not exist in a vacuum. It is the latest chapter in a decade-long pattern of erosion to disability supports in Alberta that began almost immediately after the UCP took power in 2019.
One of the Kenney government’s first acts was to deindex AISH from inflation. The previous NDP government had tied AISH benefits to the cost of living in 2018, ensuring that the purchasing power of the benefit would keep pace with rising prices. The UCP reversed this within months of taking office.
The consequences were devastating. Between November 2019 and September 2022, the consumer price index in Alberta rose 11.5 per cent. AISH payments remained frozen. Food prices rose 7.2%. Energy costs surged 31.7%. Transportation costs climbed 12.3%. And every month, AISH recipients fell further behind.
The cost of deindexation — measured in lost purchasing power for AISH recipients — totalled an estimated $647 million between 2020 and 2022, according to analysis by the Alberta NDP.
In November 2022, under mounting political pressure and with a provincial election approaching, Premier Danielle Smith announced that AISH and other benefit programs would be re-indexed to inflation. But the framework adopted — the so-called "Alberta Escalator" — caps annual increases at the lesser of Alberta CPI or 2%.
"If inflation is 1.7%, you get 1.7%. If inflation is 5%, you get 2%," explained Meaghon Reid, executive director of Vibrant Communities Calgary and lead author of the Enough for All coalition’s ADAP analysis. "It’s asymmetric by design. Any year where inflation exceeds 2% permanently reduces the real value of the benefit. Over time, it’s a ratchet that only goes one direction — down."
The Canada Disability Benefit Clawback
As if the ADAP transition were not enough, AISH recipients have been hit by another blow: the Alberta government’s decision to claw back the new federal Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) from provincial payments.
The CDB, introduced by the federal government as a supplement to help disabled Canadians with the cost of living, provides $200 per month. The Alberta government announced that this $200 would be deducted dollar-for-dollar from AISH benefits.
Beginning with the October 2025 payment period, AISH clients who had not communicated the status of their CDB application saw a $200 deduction from their monthly benefits — regardless of whether they were actually receiving the federal benefit.
"Think about what that means," said Reid. "The federal government creates a benefit specifically to help disabled people. Alberta’s response is to take it away. The net effect for an AISH recipient is zero. The only winner is the provincial treasury."
The clawback prompted a fresh wave of condemnation from advocacy organizations. NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi called for its immediate cancellation, calling it "morally indefensible."
Doctors Push Back
The medical community has added its voice to the growing chorus of opposition. In the November-December 2025 issue of the Alberta Doctors’ Digest — the official publication of the Alberta Medical Association — physicians published a detailed critique of the ADAP transition under the headline "Pushing back against changes that make life harder for disabled Albertans."
The article noted that the changes would require additional medical assessments that physicians are already struggling to provide, given Alberta’s severe family doctor shortage. It also raised concerns about the employment income exemption reduction, noting that many AISH recipients who work part-time do so not only for income but for social connection and mental health — and that reducing the exemption would actively discourage the very employment the government claims to be promoting.
"The government says this is about helping people work," said Dr. Paul Parks, a Calgary emergency physician and former AMA president. "But they’re cutting the employment exemption by 35 to 67 per cent, depending on which version of the plan you look at. They’re making it harder to work, not easier. The policy contradicts its own stated objective."
Nineteen Organizations. One Open Letter.
In late 2025, nineteen advocacy organizations and disability advisers published an open letter to the Alberta government calling for the ADAP transition to be halted entirely. Signatories included Inclusion Alberta, the Voice of Albertans with Disabilities, the Autism Independent Living Association, and more than a dozen other organizations representing tens of thousands of disabled Albertans.
The letter argued that the ADAP proposal was developed without meaningful consultation with the disability community, that the reduced benefit and employment exemption would push recipients further into poverty, and that the reassessment process would create chaos, anxiety, and administrative backlogs that could leave vulnerable people without support for months.
The government’s response was to make the limited exemptions announced in March 2026 — a move advocates described as "a bandage on a gunshot wound."
Life at $1,740
To understand what a $200-per-month cut means in practice, WestNet News asked Lisa Beaudry to walk us through her monthly budget.
Current AISH income: $1,940
- Rent: $1,200
- Utilities (heat, power, water): $180
- Phone/internet (required for medical appointments): $85
- Medication co-pays (not covered by Blue Cross): $120
- Transportation (HandiBus, occasional taxi for medical appointments): $75
- Hygiene and household supplies: $40
- Food: $240
Total expenses: $1,940
Remaining: $0
"That’s not a budget," Beaudry said. "That’s survival math. There is nothing left. There is no entertainment line item. There is no clothing line item. There is no savings. There is no margin for anything going wrong — a broken appliance, a prescription change, a bus fare increase. Nothing."
Now subtract $200.
"So which line do I cut?" she asked, her voice rising. "The rent? I’ll be homeless. The medication? I’ll end up in the hospital, which costs the system ten times more. The food? I’m already eating rice and canned soup four nights a week. Which one, Minister Nixon? Which one do you want me to cut?"
The Broader Pattern
Disability advocates say the ADAP transition must be understood in the context of a broader pattern of cuts to social supports under the UCP government. The 2025 Alberta budget cut AISH funding by $49 million. The government also ended contracts with three disability advocacy organizations — a move critics called retaliatory against groups that had publicly opposed ADAP.
"This is not an isolated policy decision," said Robin Burrows, executive director of Inclusion Alberta. "This is a systematic effort to reduce the cost of disability supports by redefining who counts as disabled. If you can reclassify 40,000 people from ‘severely handicapped’ to ‘able to work,’ you save hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s the math. That’s what this is about."
The government rejects this characterization. In a statement to WestNet News, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Seniors, Community and Social Services said: "ADAP represents a modernization of Alberta’s disability income support system. It is designed to better serve Albertans with disabilities by recognizing that many people with disabilities can and want to work, and by providing enhanced employment supports to help them do so. No current AISH client will see a reduction in their financial benefit before January 1, 2028."
What Happens Next
On July 1, 2026 — just over three months from now — the ADAP transition begins. Every current AISH recipient who does not fall into one of the exempt categories will be automatically moved to the new program. Their benefits will be maintained at current levels through the transition benefit until December 31, 2027. After that, unless they have successfully reapplied for and been accepted back onto AISH, their payments will drop by $200 per month.
For the 79,290 Albertans currently on AISH — and for the thousands more on waitlists to access the program — the clock is ticking. The application backlogs, the medical assessment requirements, the reduced employment exemptions, and the sheer administrative complexity of the transition have advocates warning of a humanitarian crisis in slow motion.
"We are going to see people lose housing. We are going to see people go hungry. We are going to see people’s mental health deteriorate to crisis points," said Bowman of VAD. "And when that happens, the costs don’t disappear — they just move to emergency rooms, to homeless shelters, to the justice system. This isn’t saving money. It’s shifting costs and human suffering."
Back in Red Deer, Lisa Beaudry has already started making her own contingency plans. She has applied to remain on AISH through the medical reassessment process, but she has not yet received a response. She has contacted her MLA’s office three times and been told to wait. She has filled out forms she could barely hold steady because of her tremors.
"I didn’t choose this life," she said. "I didn’t choose MS. I didn’t choose to be on AISH. I was an administrative assistant. I had a career. I paid taxes. And now my government is telling me I’m too expensive to keep alive with dignity."
She looked at the spreadsheet on her kitchen table.
"Two hundred dollars. That’s what I’m worth to them. Less than two hundred dollars."
This investigation is part of WestNet News’ ongoing coverage of disability rights and social policy in Alberta. If you are an AISH recipient affected by the ADAP transition and would like to share your story, contact our newsroom at news@wnactionnews.com.
Additional reporting by Action News.
