04-11-2005, 08:55 PM
FAMILIES OF autistic children across the province are raiding their RSPs and even selling their homes to scrape together enough money for treatment, according to NDP MPP Shelley Martel. "These parents are making enormous sacrifices and many of them are facing financial ruin," Martel said.
"They have mortgaged their homes; they have sold their homes; they have cashed in all of their RSPs; their credit cards are maxed out; they have borrowed heavily from other family members.
"No one should underestimate how difficult it is for some of those families who are actually trying to pay for IBI (an intense one-on-one program) out of their own pocket," she said.
During the last election campaign, the NDP supported full provincial funding for IBI treatment that the former Tory government covered until children reached age 6.
VOTE-GETTER
Martel said a last-minute promise by Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty to extend IBI treatment to children over 6 years old -- a commitment that did not appear in his party's official election platform - was a cynical vote-getter.
Last week, McGuinty confirmed his government will appeal a court decision calling the 6-year-old cut-off discriminatory and unconstitutional.
In the legislature, Children's Minister Marie Bountrogianni said they have reduced the waiting list for IBI assessment by 72% and increased by 25% the number of children under the age of 6 who are receiving the therapy. The government has declined to cover IBI beyond age 6.
PC Leader John Tory said families of autistic children made their plans around the commitment to extend IBI treatment, only to find the government appealing a court decision supporting this pre-election commitment.
"I think this is the most brutal broken promise of all," Tory said of the Liberal campaign flip-flops.
The PC leader said the original intent of the cut-off date was to target children who were too young to receive services in schools.
If treatment is not reaching the people it needs to help, it may be time to re-examine the entire program, he said.
Tory said he's meeting with parents of autistic children this week to hear their concerns.
HEFTY PRICE TAG
NDP Leader Howard Hampton said that promise by McGuinty -- in a letter to the parent of an autistic child delivered just weeks before the election -- swayed voters in his own riding of Kenora-Rainy River.
Hampton said that, at the time McGuinty wrote the letter, every political party knew such a commitment would come with a hefty price tag.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun...1-sun.html
"They have mortgaged their homes; they have sold their homes; they have cashed in all of their RSPs; their credit cards are maxed out; they have borrowed heavily from other family members.
"No one should underestimate how difficult it is for some of those families who are actually trying to pay for IBI (an intense one-on-one program) out of their own pocket," she said.
During the last election campaign, the NDP supported full provincial funding for IBI treatment that the former Tory government covered until children reached age 6.
VOTE-GETTER
Martel said a last-minute promise by Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty to extend IBI treatment to children over 6 years old -- a commitment that did not appear in his party's official election platform - was a cynical vote-getter.
Last week, McGuinty confirmed his government will appeal a court decision calling the 6-year-old cut-off discriminatory and unconstitutional.
In the legislature, Children's Minister Marie Bountrogianni said they have reduced the waiting list for IBI assessment by 72% and increased by 25% the number of children under the age of 6 who are receiving the therapy. The government has declined to cover IBI beyond age 6.
PC Leader John Tory said families of autistic children made their plans around the commitment to extend IBI treatment, only to find the government appealing a court decision supporting this pre-election commitment.
"I think this is the most brutal broken promise of all," Tory said of the Liberal campaign flip-flops.
The PC leader said the original intent of the cut-off date was to target children who were too young to receive services in schools.
If treatment is not reaching the people it needs to help, it may be time to re-examine the entire program, he said.
Tory said he's meeting with parents of autistic children this week to hear their concerns.
HEFTY PRICE TAG
NDP Leader Howard Hampton said that promise by McGuinty -- in a letter to the parent of an autistic child delivered just weeks before the election -- swayed voters in his own riding of Kenora-Rainy River.
Hampton said that, at the time McGuinty wrote the letter, every political party knew such a commitment would come with a hefty price tag.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun...1-sun.html