I hear from families regularly that the Ontario Autism Program is not working. Despite recent funding announcements, families are still calling, begging for help for their children.

Jessica reached out to my office for support for her beautiful daughter. Jessica wants to share this message with the government:

“The OAP program has failed many families who are now without essential services and supports during their most vulnerable moments.

“I know my daughter is capable of accomplishing a lot in her life, but we need help to get her there.

“And there are so many other families who are in the same boat, and so many other families who are at their breaking point because they have nowhere to turn.

“True success should be defined as celebrating differences and fostering an environment where everyone belongs, regardless of their abilities.

“Let’s work together to build a society that values inclusion and empowers individuals with diverse talents to flourish.

“Let’s also build systems that support those who need help; and provide a way for that to happen before it’s too late.”

Families like Jessica’s are making sacrifices every day to provide the best care that they can for their children. Our government needs to match their efforts. Receiving consistent, robust core services is essential for autistic children to thrive.

We need a concrete plan attached to the funding announcements to make sure this money helps the kids it’s intended to so every child in Ontario receives the supports that they need. Jessica’s family and her daughter deserve that.

After the Liberals increased child care costs 500%, pricing so many families out of the job market, and mothers often had to stay home instead of going to work because of the economic disincentives of unaffordable child care, we delivered a plan, in partnership with all levels of government, that has reduced fees by 50%, saving $8,000 to $12,000 per child.

The member speaks about access for constituents who would seek child care, and yet the member’s party and the Liberals recommended to the government that we remove 30% of the market by denying for-profit child care. We’re talking about tens of thousands of spaces for families in Toronto that would have been reduced and cut and eliminated if we did it the way the NDP and Liberals recommended.

We are standing up for choice, we’re respecting parents, and we’re ensuring all families benefit from affordability in this province.

The record must be clear: Liberals and New Democrats stood in this House encouraging—in fact, demanding—that the government sign a deal that would have left 70,000 spaces and families behind because of your ideological conviction to oppose small business women who own for-profit child care. That’s the choice. That’s what those three parents you mentioned should know—that you would have made it worse, increased wait-lists, decreased access, increased costs.

We stood up to this Prime Minister for a better deal. We will always stand up for all families, all children, in all regions of this province.