“Failure of leadership”: Ontario NDP slams Ford for funding fewer than 15,000 children for core autism services while demand explodes past 70,000

QUEEN’S PARK – MPP Monique Taylor (Hamilton Mountain), NDP critic for Children, Community, and Social Services released the following statement in response to the Financial Accountability Office’s (FAO) reporting that the government could be short $3.7 billion needed to fund critical services like OAP, ODSP and OW:

“This is a complete failure of leadership. Under Ford’s watch, the number of children who are desperately trying to access core autism services has grown past 70,000. That’s over 70,000 children seeking access to the critical supports they need to thrive, and thousands of families in need of resources. We're talking about more kids waiting for services than seats in the Rogers Centre.

Today we learned that if Ford continues to fund autism services at these rates there will only be enough money to fully fund 10,000 children for core services. That’s far below demand – and Ford’s own goal of 20,000. It’s shocking. He either doesn’t understand the depth of the crisis or doesn’t care."