Sun
October 6, 2007
Preem called ‘cruel’ by Tory
By CHIP
MARTIN AND ANTONELLA
ARTUSO, SUN MEDIA
BRAMALEA — Premier Dalton McGuinty was “cruel” to break his promise to help
Ontario’s autistic children and their families, Progressive Conservative leader
John Tory charged yesterday.
“They thought they had a champion — what they got was a champion
promise-breaker,” said Tory, who said he would spend $75 million to clear the
backlog of autistic children waiting for one-on-one treatment and $5 million to
provide help for their parents.
Tory said McGuinty promised to help autistic kids during the 2003 election
campaign, when the waiting list for treatment was 89. Now it numbers more than
1,000.
“I don’t know how Mr. McGuinty lives with himself when he calls that
progress,” Tory told supporters after meeting with parents of autistic children.
‘MOST VULNERABLE KIDS’
“It’s cruel behaviour to go back on your word … then go and fight these
people in court. He created needless suffering for these most vulnerable kids
and their families.”
Among the parents Tory met were Neil and Elana Meirovich, a Richmond Hill
couple whose son, Jerry, 7, has autism — treatment for which has forced the
family into more than $150,000 debt. Neil Meirovich said that was for treatment
McGuinty had promised would be covered.
Tory noted McGuinty not only failed to live up to his promise but spent
millions in court to fight parents who tried to make him deliver on his promise.
In Markham yesterday, McGuinty said he’s pleased Ontario’s economy generated
30,000 net new jobs last month, but a closer look shows those additional jobs
are in the public sector. StatsCan said the growth in private sector employees
in September was 0% in Ontario.
———————————————————————————————————
Globe
PC’s core voters on side, Tory says
KAREN HOWLETT AND PAUL WALDIE
From Saturday’s Globe and Mail
October 6, 2007 at 12:55 AM
EDT
GUELPH, ONT. KITCHENER, ONT. — John Tory enters the final days of the Ontario campaign
with the belief he has won back his core supporters after his decision to put
his religious school policy to a free vote and is using the final stretch of his
campaign to reach out to progressive voters.
Mr. Tory told reporters Friday he is confident he can
win over more supporters during the Thanksgiving weekend by getting them to
think about the prospect of another four years under the Liberals, and what he
says is Dalton McGuinty’s inability to solve social problems.
As voters prepare for Wednesday’s election, the Liberals
were handed good news on the economic front with better than expected employment
figures showing Ontario created nearly 30,000 new jobs in September and the
provincial unemployment rate fell two percentage points to 6.2 per cent. While
the unemployment rate was slightly above the 5.9 per cent national average, the
job-creation number led the country by far.
Campaigning in Guelph Friday, Mr. Tory said he regrets
that many of the issues he has tried to focus on during the campaign have been
drowned out by his plan to extend public funding to all religious schools. “We
haven’t had an opportunity until recently to discuss these very real
concerns.”
He criticized
the Liberals for failing to fix the doctor shortage and challenged families
gathering around the table for turkey dinner to reflect upon why so many
children with autism are on waiting lists for treatment.
During a luncheon speech, Mr. Tory’s key message was
that broken promises by political leaders have consequences. The speech capped a
week in which the Conservative Leader has focused on the plight of the less
fortunate.
“With each passing day, more and more of our most
vulnerable fall through the cracks,” he said.
Party officials said Mr. Tory will spend the last days
campaigning in Don Valley-West, the riding where he is running, and also in the
Greater Toronto Area.
“We’re going to be pushing forward hard on issues that
are finally becoming part of the campaign, belatedly, but it’s not too late,”
Conservative Party spokeswoman Ingrid Thompson said.
Mr. Tory also talked about the night two years ago that
he spent sleeping in a residence in Flemingdon Park, a housing development in
Toronto. He said he was awakened in the middle of the night by cockroaches
crawling across his chest.
“That kind of housing development is a source of shame
and embarrassment,” he said.
But the audience applauded during the 25-minute speech
only when Mr. Tory talked about a meat-and-potato issue for traditional
Conservatives – the millions of dollars the Liberals rushed out the door in
year-end grants with no rules and procedures.
“I think he is setting out that the PC Party of Ontario
is a moderate, centralist party that’s not to be feared,” said Tim
Woolstencroft, managing partner of the Strategic Counsel, a Toronto polling
firm.
Mr. McGuinty largely ignored the jibes from Mr. Tory and
stuck to a low-key campaign pace, stopping at just three events, commenting as
he went on the job figures.
“We’re at a point now where nearly 400,000 net new jobs
have been generated during the course of the past four years,” he said.
He also easily deflected difficult questions about the
loss of manufacturing jobs, down 11,000 in September, by citing his government’s
job creation strategy and claiming that the vast majority of new jobs created
pay $19.50 an hour.
“Remember we are in a transitional phase when it comes
to manufacturing,” he said. “We’re going to ensure that we create the kinds of
strengths in our manufacturing sector that demand good jobs.”
Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at the Bank of
Montreal, said the job growth in Ontario has been something of a surprise. He
said Toronto’s unemployment rate used to be as high as Montreal’s and St.
John’s, but that is no longer the case.
He noted that while manufacturing jobs have disappeared,
thousands of jobs have been created in the service sector. For example, in the
past year while employment in manufacturing fell by 60 per cent, the number of
jobs in the education field jumped 58 per cent.
New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton said the Liberal
government has offered excuses but no plans for Ontario’s struggling
manufacturing industry. Buzz Hargrove, the president of the Canadian Auto
Workers, and once a staunch supporter of the New Democrats, said: “I’m
personally supporting the Liberals because I don’t think the NDP is true to its
roots.”
—————————————————————————————-
Star
NDP CAMPAIGN
Seats `in
play,’ a confident Hampton says
Leader
says party’s own polls show many Liberals, Progressive Conservatives not solidly
committed
Oct 06,
2007 04:30 AM Richard
Brennan
STAFF REPORTER
NDP Leader Howard Hampton says voters are only now waking up to the fact
there is a provincial election next week and that he’s “absolutely” not about to
throw in the towel.
“Virtually every seat across the North (11) is in play and every seat in
Hamilton (three) is in play. There are at least five seats in Toronto for us
that are in play, as well as Windsor, Sarnia and London,” Hampton told the
Toronto Star.
An Ipsos-Reid poll released yesterday shows a majority government for the
Liberals with 43 per cent support, the Progressive Conservatives with 32 per
cent, the NDP at about 18 per cent, and the Green Party at 6 per cent.
Even so, Hampton, who is fighting his third election as party leader, says
the situation is still fluid given the poor showing of Progressive Conservative
Leader John Tory.
Hampton said the NDP’s own polling is showing many Liberals and Progressive
Conservatives are not solidly committed.
“They are people who don’t want to vote for McGuinty. They don’t trust him,
they don’t believe him and they can be swayed to go elsewhere. And there are
people who are ordinarily Conservatives, but Tory has frustrated them so much
with this faith-based school funding issue.”
Hampton said that if the chips fall his way, the NDP, which held 10 seats at
dissolution, could clinch far more than 15 seats, including the two the Liberals
hold in Windsor.
“Windsor has taken a hit of 30,000 jobs,” he said.
Last night Hampton, joined by federal NDP Leader Jack Layton, spoke to more
than 1,000 people at the International Muslims Organization in Rexdale – the
NDP’s largest crowd to date.
Earlier in Sarnia yesterday, Hampton told supporters that with four days of
campaigning left, people are just starting to get their heads around picking
sides.
“I don’t think people have had a chance so far during this election to
actually think about all the broken promises of Dalton McGuinty,” he said. “Next
Wednesday, the people of Ontario will have an opportunity to pass judgment on
Dalton McGuinty and his legacy of broken promises.”
In a twist, 24 hours after chewing out the media for not covering his issues,
Hampton acknowledged he’s too busy to pay attention to what they say about his
campaign.
“To tell you the truth, I never see the media coverage,” he said. “I have
things to prepare, I have kids to get to bed, I have work to do.”
The NDP has made six commitments for this election campaign.
Provide a health tax rebate of up to $450 per person and $900 per two-income
family.
Immediately raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour from $8 and roll back the
MPPs’ pay increase.
Roll back college and university tuition fees to 2003 levels and eliminate
apprenticeship “classroom” fees.
Make sure all children get the classroom resources they
need – including children with autism and special needs.
Reduce hospital waits by expanding and improving home care and long-term
care.
Establish a Right-to-Know law so families know what toxins are in our food,
air, ground, and water.
———————————————————————————————————————————-
TheRecord.com
Should we re-elect Dalton McGuinty?
Yes! Premier has shown genuine leadership
GARY BORATTO
Society needs leaders, and expects people to put themselves forward for such
tasks. Once upon my childhood, people talked about being called into a
profession, and while the term may now seem a tad arcane I still find it a
helpful sentiment, reminding me that leadership comes with grave responsibility.
It is not to be taken lightly.
Given that, it troubles me that we seem so ambivalent about leadership, as if
we always expect the worst. When Dalton McGuinty is attacked for breaking
campaign promises, we are as likely to break into a yawn as to be surprised.
Yet, what does it mean that such incumbents are sitting ducks, and that it will
always be easier to point out their faults than it is to undertake the difficult
tasks of finding compromises between the many needs within our province and its
budget.
We tend to forget that while McGuinty made promises about
no new taxes, no private public hospitals, care for the families of autistic
children and an end to coal-fired generators, Ernie Eves and the incumbent
Tories were claiming a balanced budget. So, while McGuinty did not keep his
promises, Eves could not have met his promises either, and he left the Liberal
government that followed his in an almost untenable financial situation. The
Liberals found themselves backtracking in earnest.
For all that, McGuinty did not just twiddle his thumbs
for four years, but did govern the province. I do not believe we should judge
solely on the basis of what was promised and not done, but on the basis of what
was actually accomplished. When that’s done, giving the premier a second chance
does not look so out of line. (Although it would not have done irreparable
damage to the budget to help out the families of the autistic.)
In any case, we should recall that no law is enacted by the whim of a
political party, by fiat of its leaders or even (save for the present
referendum) by a vote of the electorate. Our government follows a process
wherein our elected representatives consider proposed legislation and decide on
the basis of information and debate. Campaigns are, in reality, about choosing
who will govern, yet by making elaborate election promises, political parties
habitually seek to treat elections like referendums on budget proposals or like
bribes to special interest groups.
It is a wrong-headed but persistent error, and we fall for it. It makes the
things of governments appear to be a simplistic process of making easy choices,
when it is truly not so.
We too often forget that promises come not only with a price but with social
and political consequences that require sober reflection. Our political leaders
do not have magic wands. To tell the truth I have never seen an unlikelier batch
of candidates for fairy godmother.
It would be better if the political parties would each clearly present their
vision for the resolution of the issues presently facing Ontario and the
principles, priorities and understandings needed for developing legislation
which would most clearly meet the needs and aspirations of our people. Making
promises without considering the financial realities or the will of the people
is counterproductive.
Progressive Conservative lead John Tory discovered that is so when he
proposed funding for sectarian schools, then had to back-track even before the
election. Clearly the issue of funding for all religious schools needs to
addressed, and a wise political party would seek some way of resolving this
thorny issue, not for political gain but for the health and growth of Ontario as
a multicultural reality without special privilege for some.
In any case, what I want to hear are not promises from the social agenda of
special interests groups at the expense of others, but clear policies about
holistic priority- setting surrounding the greatest needs of our province and
its most vulnerable people, including the families of those with autism. A
political party that is willing to commit to clear and open priority- setting
deserves a chance to govern.
As for the public, we also have a calling, to vote following our informed
conscience.
Gary Boratto is a minister with the United Church.
——————————————————————————————————————
Star
`Broken promises’ take toll, Tory
says
Criticizes
McGuinty over his 2003 election pledge to give autistic kids support,
treatment
Oct 06,
2007 04:30 AM Robert
Benzie
Queen’s Park Bureau Chief
Neil Meirovich voted Liberal in 2003 solely because of Dalton McGuinty’s
promise to improve funding for autism.
Not this time.
Meirovich, father of an autistic child, said yesterday he is voting for the
Progressive Conservatives because he feels “betrayed big time” by the
Liberals.
His voice cracking with emotion, the Richmond Hill photographer said getting
adequate care for his 7-year-old son Jerry has been frustrating and
exhausting.
He and his wife, Elana, a high school chemistry teacher, have spent about
$180,000 – depleting savings and forcing them to borrow from friends and family
– to get Jerry the intensive behaviour intervention (IBI) therapy that is
helping him.
After almost three years of paying the full cost of his treatment themselves,
the government covered 60 per cent before extending that to 100 per cent a few
months ago.
Despite the reprieve, Meirovich said he is still disappointed the family “had
to fight for that.”
“I’m not pushing for my son, I’m doing it for province-wide. I’ve attended
numerous rallies. I have enough to deal with with my son, I don’t need to be
attending rallies to get what my son needs,” he said.
“This time I will be voting PC, last time I voted Liberal because I figured
he was there to help.”
Pointing to the plight of the Meirovich family and other parents of autistic
children, Conservative Leader John Tory told 125 supporters in Bramalea that
there is a human toll to McGuinty’s “broken promises.”
Tory repeated his commitment to invest $75 million for autism treatment in
the province.
During the 2003 election campaign, McGuinty pledged in writing that he would
give autistic children the “support and treatment they needed.”
But upon taking office, he continued a legal fight that dated back to the
previous Tory government of Mike Harris.
The province eventually spent $2.4 million battling parents of autistic
children who sued the government over its refusal to fund IBI for children older
than age 6.
“Right now the parents of more than 1,000 children under the age of 6 with
autism are feeling like they’ve been abandoned on an island as their kids sit on
these growing waiting lists,” Tory said in Bramalea.
“The waiting list consisted of 89 kids when Dalton McGuinty came to office in
2003. Today it is 1,000, so that’s what’s happened on his watch.”
McGuinty countered that his government has tripled the funding for autism
services from $42 million to $140 million, expanded training spaces for
therapists and paid for summer camps.
“Let’s talk about how far we’ve come. You’ll remember under the NDP there was
zero funding for autistic kids – zero. You’ll remember that we’ve tripled the
funding that was there under the Conservatives,” McGuinty told reporters during
a campaign stop at Lincoln Alexander Public School in Markham.
While there are about 1,000 children on the waiting list for IBI that can
cost $50,000 a year per child, there are 1,200 kids currently receiving the
therapy, up from 550 when the Conservatives were in power.
The Liberals also note the waiting list is longer because children are being
assessed for treatment, whereas they were kept on waiting lists for assessment
in the previous Conservative government.
Still, Tory insisted that’s not good enough.
“I don’t know how Mr. McGuinty lives with himself in trying to describe that
as progress, because we all know that it’s not,” he said.
“I consider this kind of behaviour not just unaccountable, not just
irresponsible, but quite frankly it’s cruel. It’s cruel behaviour to go back on
your word.”
– With files From Kerry Gillespie
—————————————————————————————————————
Globe
McGuinty Makes No Promises for Autistic Children
Maria Babbage
Canadian Press
October 5, 2007 at 9:22 PM
EDT
MARKHAM, ONT. —
Though “more work needs to be done” on their behalf, Liberal Leader Dalton
McGuinty wouldn’t commit Friday to clearing a long waiting list of children
awaiting an expensive autism treatment, drawing fire from opposition parties
eager to lure support away from the front-running Liberals.
Mr. McGuinty, who pledged to spend more money on
middle-grade students, wouldn’t expand on his comments except to say the
Liberals have done more for autistic children than have previous NDP or
Progressive Conservative governments.
“I can only imagine the nature of the challenge for
parents who are absolutely devoted to their kids and want to make sure they get
all the opportunities that they need,” Mr. McGuinty said at a school in Markham,
north of Toronto.
“I think we have made some real progress and, of course,
there’s still more work to be done.”
The Conservatives, whom polls suggest are lagging behind
the incumbent Liberals in the final days before the Oct. 10 vote, pounced on Mr.
McGuinty’s remarks, calling him “cruel” for breaking a promise to help autistic
children.
Opposition parties say the backlog of children waiting
for the costly but effective one-on-one treatment — known as Intensive
Behavioural Intervention, or IBI — has grown to nearly 1,000 kids under the
Liberal government.
The Liberals call that accusation unfair, saying the
wait list has grown because the government agreed to assess more children to
determine if they are eligible for treatment.
Both the NDP and Conservatives have vowed to clear the
wait list if they are elected. Mr. McGuinty wouldn’t go that far, but did say
his government has nearly tripled spending on autism, doubled the number of
children getting access to treatment and provided funding for classroom
therapy.
The province also spent $2.4 million on a seven-year
court battle, started by the former Conservative government, with the parents of
autistic children — many of whom say they’re struggling to cope with medical
bills that can easily exceed a year’s salary.
More recently, the party came under fire from the
Ontario Autistic Coalition, which says the Liberals have failed to adequately
respond to questions about whether they’ll take the children off the waiting
list.
Mr. McGuinty, whose re-election efforts have so far
remained largely free of the controversy that has plagued the Conservatives over
their pledge to extend funding to faith-based schools, has been running a
low-key campaign of late.
And while he hasn’t openly speculated on the outcome,
victory didn’t seem to be far from Mr. McGuinty’s thoughts during a brief
appearance at an Oktoberfest party in Kitchener to announce a proposed new
statutory holiday, called Family Day, that would fall annually on the third
Monday of February, or Feb. 18 in 2008.
“I’ve been looking forward to a toast of some kind,
which I’m about to participate in,” Mr. McGuinty said before chugging beer in
front of dozens of polka-loving revellers.
Earlier in the day, Mr. McGuinty unveiled a new plank in
his education platform, saying a Liberal government would spend up to $150
million a year to reduce class sizes in grades 4 through 8, provide more
individual attention in areas like the arts, and help students make the
transition to high school.
He also touted new statistics indicating Ontario
produced 30,000 new full-time jobs last month. However, the province’s job
growth for the first nine months of this year — 1.2 per cent — was still well
below the national average.
Mr. McGuinty acknowledged that Ontario’s manufacturing
sector, hit hard by the soaring Canadian dollar, continues to be “challenged.”
But the Liberals are the only party that can bring labour and business to the
table, he added.
“We’re in a transitional phase when it comes to
manufacturing,” Mr. McGuinty said. “We’re going to ensure that we create the
kinds of strengths in our manufacturing sector that demand good jobs, and that’s
why we continue to invest in our kids.”
————————————————————————————————————-
Canada.com
Craig Pearson , CanWest News ServicePublished: Friday,
October 05, 2007
BRAMALEA, Ont. — Calling Premier Dalton McGuinty “cruel” for his treatment
of families with autistic children, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John
Tory repeated his call Friday to provide more funding for autism treatment.
“These families of children with autism are feeling helpless and forgotten,”
Tory said at a campaign stop in a crowded office of a PC candidate in Bramalea,
just west of Toronto. “But they will not be invisible and they will not be
silent. I am here to say I will listen, and I will also act to give these
families the meaningful supports they deserve.”
Tory repeated his commitment to invest $75 million to clear what he says is a
rapidly growing waiting list for autism treatment in the province.
Tory noted that McGuinty wrote a letter during the last election promising
help for autism treatment, but that the Liberal government later ended up going
to court against some claims from families of children with autism.
“I don’t know how Mr. McGuinty can live with himself,” Tory said, continuing
his stinging attacks on the premier as the election winds down with the Liberals
leading in the polls. “It’s cruel behaviour to go back on your word, make people
have a hope that you would help, and then turn around and fight those people in
court and spend the taxpayers money that’s needed for children.”
The Liberals say Tory has “selective memory” on the issue, and claim they
have invested $140 million more in autism research and that 1,400 more autistic
children in the province are receiving IBI therapy than under the previous
government.
With five days to go in the election, Tory planned another jam-packed day
campaigning against the health tax and the doctor shortage in Liberal-held
ridings in southwestern Ontario and the greater Toronto area.
————————————————————————————————————————
Globe
Tory critical of Liberals’ treatment of autistic
children
COLIN PERKEL
The Canadian Press
October 5, 2007 at 9:14 PM
EDT
BRAMALEA, Ont. —
Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty broke a promise he made during the last campaign
to help autistic children and instead treated them with cruelty, Progressive
Conservative Leader John Tory charged Friday.
At three campaign stops, Mr. Tory noted the Liberal
government spent millions of dollars fighting parents in court to restrict
funding for their children.
“They thought they had a champion; what they received
was a champion promise-breaker,” Mr. Tory said.
“I consider this kind of behaviour not just
unaccountable, not just irresponsible, but quite frankly, it’s cruel.”
At the heart of the issue was the extension of funding
for expensive autism therapy, known as Intensive Behavioural Intervention, for
children who suffer from the poorly understood mental and social disorder.
The province and parents ended up at legal loggerheads
because funding was cut off at age six.
Senior Liberals, indignant at the accusation of cruelty,
quickly shot back that it was the previous Conservative government that
initiated the legal action — on a policy issue — and Mr. McGuinty lifted the cap
even though the government won the suit.
Campaigning in Markham, Mr. McGuinty acknowledged more
could be done to help autistic children, but he wouldn’t commit to clearing a
waiting list for treatment.
“I think we have made some real progress and, of course,
there’s still more work to be done,” he said.
Advocates say the backlog has grown to close to 1,000
children under the Liberal government.
However, the Liberals say they’ve nearly tripled
spending on autism and more than doubled the number of children getting access
to the treatment.
They also say the only reason the wait list has grown is
because more children are being assessed and diagnosed with the disorder.
They say the previous Conservative government simply
left the children off assessment lists.
Heather LeGrow, the mother of a 10-year-old autistic
boy, told Mr. Tory she voted for the Liberals in the last election on the
strength of Mr. McGuinty’s promise to help autistic children.
Instead, her son found his funding cut off, she
said.
“I’m already disgusted at the McGuinty government,” Ms.
LeGrow said, clutching a letter from the premier she said took a year to arrive
and promised help that never came.
“I just don’t want to have my heart broken by the
Tories.”
At a campaign rally in London, Mr. Tory brushed off
polls showing his party still badly trailing with just days to go in the
election campaign.
“Any time a poll is being taken, there’s not an election
being held on that day,” Mr. Tory said.
During his stump speech to about 200 supporters, many of
whom sat stoney-faced, Mr. Tory accused Mr. McGuinty of being out of touch,
complacent and arrogant.
He again accused Mr. McGuinty of going from
“incompetence to cruelty” on the autism issue.
If elected, Mr. Tory promised to spend another $75
million to get autistic kids the help they need.
He also pledged a further $5 million so parents can get
some relief from caring for their autistic children.
“Right now, the parents of more than 1,000 children
under the age of six with autism are feeling like they have been abandoned on an
island as their kids languish on a growing waiting list,” Mr. Tory said.
The NDP is promising public funding for the therapy in
classrooms for all autistic children, something the Liberals say is not
sustainable.
“I think it’s clear how many times Dalton McGuinty has
broken his promise to children with autism,” said NDP Leader Howard Hampton.
“He continues to let them down. The waiting list has
skyrocketed.”
Mr. Hampton credited Mr. Tory with recognizing the wait
list is a serious problem, but said the Conservative leader hasn’t committed
enough money to eliminate it entirely.
——————————————————————————————————-
Canadian Press
Hampton cool under
fire from one-time ally; Tory calls McGuinty ’cruel’
By Allison
Jones, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Friday, October 5, 2007
|
|
TORONTO - John Tory pledged to improve on the “cruel” Liberal approach
to autism, Howard Hampton kept his cool under attack from a one-time ally and
Dalton McGuinty quaffed campaign ale Friday as the Ontario election campaign
entered a long-weekend sprint to the finish.
One day after Hampton
angrily bellowed at reporters to stop ignoring the “real issues,” the New
Democrat leader was downright serene by comparison despite a stinging rebuke
from an old friend-turned-foe: labour leader Buzz Hargrove.
Hargrove,
president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, has in recent years opted to shun
the traditional choice of organized labour and instead support Liberals like
McGuinty and former prime minister Paul Martin.
“I’m personally
supporting the Liberals because I don’t think the NDP is true to its roots,”
Hargrove said in an interview Friday.
“It’s not a left party. It’s a
centrist party that’s trying to compete for votes in the centre of the spectrum,
which I think is a mistake.”
The NDP’s only response came from spokesman
Jeff Ferrier: “Mr. Hargrove is entitled to his opinions.”
Tory, whose
Progressive Conservative campaign has been battered by his controversial
proposal for faith-based school funding, managed to get off a few shots against
McGuinty and his government’s record helping families with autistic
children.
Tory accused McGuinty of promising in the last campaign to help
families with autistic kids, only to turn around and fight those same families
in a court battle over funding for a costly but effective treatment known as
Intensive Behavioural Intervention, or IBI.
“They thought they had a
champion; what they received was a champion promise-breaker,” Tory said. “I
consider this kind of behaviour not just unaccountable, not just irresponsible,
but quite frankly, it’s cruel.”
The Conservatives have also slammed the
Liberals for allowing the backlog of children waiting for the costly IBI
treatment to grow to nearly 1,000 kids.
The Liberals call that accusation
unfair, saying the wait list has grown because the government agreed to assess
more children to determine if they are eligible for treatment.
McGuinty
insisted that his government has nearly tripled funding for families with
autism, more than doubled the number of children getting access to the
treatment, and brought the therapy into public classrooms.
But for the
most part, the incumbent - polls suggest he’s on the cusp of forming another
government - was trying to stay out of the fray, promising to ease classroom
congestion in grades 4 through 8 and to give Ontario taxpayers a holiday on the
third Monday each February.
As the Liberals whistle-stopped their way
across southern Ontario, they stopped for a short visit to Oktoberfest
celebrations in Kitchener-Waterloo, where McGuinty seemed to have victory on his
mind.
“I’ve been looking forward to a toast of some kind, which I’m about
to participate in,” he said before chugging a beer in front of dozens of
polka-loving revellers.
Hampton, meanwhile, spent his day hammering
McGuinty on the manufacturing job losses that have been plaguing the
province.
The Ontario economy added about 30,000 jobs last month, but
about 11,000 manufacturing jobs were lost, for a total of 44,000 manufacturing
jobs that have disappeared this year, Hampton said during a campaign event in
Sarnia, Ont.
“Dalton McGuinty simply goes around the province saying,
’I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I feel your pain, but there’s nothing I can do,”’ Hampton
said.
“If our plan had been put in place three years ago I think a number
of the manufacturing jobs that have been lost could have been
avoided.”
Not so, said Hargrove, who defended his pro-Liberal position by
citing a number of high-profile Liberal investments in the auto industry,
including $235 million for Ford and General Motors.
“By taking the lead
he’s leveraged over $7 billion in investment in the auto industry in the last
three years,” Hargrove said of McGuinty.
“One of the problems is
(Hampton) doesn’t understand what’s happening in the manufacturing industry or
the auto industry.”
Hargrove acknowledged there are still a lot of people
facing job losses in Ontario, but said a McGuinty-led Liberal government would
be in a much better position to turn the tide than any government led by
Hampton.
Hargrove has long directed union members to practice strategic
voting - casting a ballot for whichever Liberal or NDP candidate is in a better
position to win - in order to avoid a Conservative government.
McGuinty
pointed out that jobs actually increased by about 30,000 overall in September in
Ontario, while the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 per cent to 6.2 per
cent.
“I think it’s 96 per cent of all the new, full-time jobs we’ve
created pay $19.65 an hour or more - these are good jobs,” he said.
——————————————————————————————————-
Star
Premier
defends his autism stance
MARKHAM–Premier Dalton McGuinty says more should be done to help autistic
children, but won’t commit to clearing a waiting list for treatment.
Speaking at an elementary school north of Toronto, McGuinty acknowledged
“more work needs to be done,” but wouldn’t expand on his comments.
Opposition parties say the backlog of children waiting for the one-on-one
treatment – known as intensive behavioural intervention, or IBI – has grown
significantly under the Liberal government.
———————————————————————————————————————-
CityNews
Who’s Getting Your Vote?
Thursday October 4, 2007
CityNews.ca Staff
Still haven’t decided who you want to vote for on October 11? Here’s a
recap of some of the key issues Ontario’s party leaders have addressed in the
election campaign.
Education
Liberals - provide more funding for public school system
Conservatives -
improve existing public school system; hold free vote on expanding public
education system to include non-Catholic faith based schools
NDP - provide resources needed for children with autism
Green -
end funding for religious schools in Ontario
Economy
Liberals - expand Next Generation job funding
Conservatives - eliminate
health tax
NDP - raise minimum wage to $10/hour
Green - Reduce personal
taxes by $3.5 billion; phase out Ontario Health Premium Tax
Health Care
Liberals - give more power to patients; retain health care
premium
Conservatives - address doctor shortage; eliminate health care
premium over four years
NDP - provide health tax rebate of up to $450
per person and $900 per two-income family; lower health care premium for
low-income families
Green Party - provide families with low incomes an
additional health care allowance of $1,000 per person
Environment
Liberals - create tough new toxic reduction law that requires companies that
emit toxic pollution to reduce their emissions over time
Conservatives -
implement an integrated waste-management strategy in Ontario
NDP - establish
“Right To Know” law that ensures families know what toxins and other hazardous
materials are being used in Ontario’s food, ground, air and water
Green -
allocate $55 million to environmental issues
Social
Liberals - create an International Ontario Strategy to attract skilled people
from around the world
Conservatives - hire new crown attorneys, crack down on
bail and sentencing deals and double resources of squad that tracks down repeat
offenders
NDP - unlock $1 billion to fix rundown social housing
Green -
provide $300 million annually to provide non-profit, quality childcare across
Ontario
To read each party’s full platform, click on the following links:
Liberals
Conservatives
NDP
Green
Party
|
