Sunday, September 30, 2007

VIGIL LOCATIONS update September 30th!!!

This list is read as follows: MPP, Contact Person, Vigil location!!! See you there.

Wayne Arthurs -Yvette Fiala - 213- 1550 Kingston Rd Pickering Ontario

Rick Bartolucci – Trish Kitching – 100 Elm St., Sudbury, Ontario

Mike Brown – Wendy McLelland – 5 Elizabeth Walk, Elliott Lake, Ontario

Mike Brown Campaign Office (Stephanie Bye’s town of Espanola)– Roxanne Belanger – 307 Albert Street & Hwy 6 (Right in Espanola)

Mike Colle – Linda Silva – 2882 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario

Leona Dombrowsky Campaign Office (Ernie Parson’s MPP has retired) - Andrea Quinn - 308 North Front St. Belleville, Ontario

Garfield Dunlop - Shawna Judson– 14 Coldwater Rd. W., Orillia, Ontario

Kevin Daniel Flynn – Tina Triano – 2330 Lakeshore Rd. W., Oakville, Ontario

Hon John Gerretsen – Pat LaLonde - #2, 303 Bagot St., Lasalle Mews, Kingston, Ontario

Andrea Horwath - Rose Bushey - 720 Main Streer E., Hamilton, Ontario

Frank Klees – TBA - - 210- 650 Highway 7 E Richmond Hill, Ontario

Peter Kormos – Brenda Roussel - #103, 60 King St., Welland, Ontario

Dave Levac – Sherry Bailey - #101 – 96 Nelson Street, Brantford, Ontario

Hon. Monte Kwinter – Gideon Sheps – 539 Wilson Heights Blvd. Downsview, Ontario

Shelley Martel – Lily Blais - #15, 5085 (Hanmer Valley Shopping Centre) Highway 69 North, Hanmer, Ontario

Gerry Martiniuk – John McVicar - 2- 410 Hespeler Rd, Cambridge Ontario

Ted McMeekin – Chuck Learn – 299 Dundas Street E., Waterdown, Ontario

John Milloy – Peter and Nancy Miles - #6C, 1770 King St. E., Kitchener, Ontario

Julie Munroe – Jackie Buchanan - 18977 Leslie St., P.O. Box 1129 Sharon Ontario

David Orazietti – Dennis Lendrum – 726 Queen St. E., Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Michael Prue – Michelle Quance – 1821 Danforth Avenue, Toronto Ontario

Khalil Ramal – Brad and Cynthia Bouffard - #16-771 Southdale Rd. E., London, Ontario

Bob Runciman – Wanda Burns – 243 Perth Street – Brockville, Ontario

Greg Sorbara – Pat Congi – Unit AU8-140 Woodbridge Avenue, Woodbridge, Ontario

Joseph N. Tascona – Tanya Stephenson – 36 Mulcaster St., Barrie, Ontario

Jim Watson – Bonita Miedema – 2249 Carling Avenue, Suite 201, Ottawa, Ontario

Jim Wilson – Shannon Lyle - #28, 180 Parsons Road, Alliston, Ontario

Elizabeth Witmer – Kathryn Craig - 375 University Ave E Waterloo, Ontario

Alex Yuan – Julie Finni – Major MacKenzie at Bayview, Richmond Hill, Ontario
Posted by at

Saturday, September 22, 2007

AFA Fall Update- September 22nd 2007

THE ALLIANCE FOR FAMILIES WITH AUTISM (AFA)

FALL 2007 UPDATE

We felt it was necessary and important to give the autism community an update of what we have done and where we are heading for the fall!

Our executive members include parents and a grandparent of children with autism. Our mission is improving the lives of children and adults affected by autism. To provide factual information in a non-partisan approach to all stakeholders.

Throughout the year we have had meetings with John Tory, Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, Howard Hampton, Leader of the New Democratic Party, the Premier’s office, senior officials of the Ontario Government including Minister of Education and Minister of Children and Youth Services.

During these meetings the following priorities for action were addressed:

1) Implement all the recommendations from the Autism Reference Group Report to the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Children and Youth Services.
2) Direct Funding Option (DFO)/Direct Service Option (DSO) choice for Autism Intervention Program (AIP) with no waiting list and seamless transition to similar programming in school boards for children who require ongoing support.
3) Standard certification for service providers with a regulatory body of behaviour analysts and therapists. Increasing the number of psychologists to work with children and adults with autism, including a graduate level ABA teaching program at universities. Allow third party Behavioural consultants specialized in autism, senior therapists and therapists into schools.
4) Continuum of Government funded services and programs. Specialized services such as speech and occupational therapy need to be delivered in a timely manner. Programs such as Special Services at Home (SSAH) and Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities (ACSD) need to support all families with autism and give clear guidelines to their key elements of administration.
5) Creation of National Autism Strategy that would include Federal-Provincial partnerships to ensure adequate resources and standards to provide Canadians with timely diagnosis, assessments, treatments, supports and research.

We all know that Ontario’s provincial election is right around the corner. The Alliance for Families with Autism (AFA) felt it was extremely important to our community to ensure that we had commitments from each of the three main political parties. We held a three-party political debate on autism policies and programs in June, 2007. We felt all informed voters would be interested in the information from this unprecedented and unique event. The debate was a great success and included such speakers such as Shelley Martel from the New Democratic Party, Frank Klees and Christine Elliot from the Progressive Conservative Party, and Minister Wynne from Education, as well as Minister Chambers from Children and Youth Services from the Ontario Liberal Government.

Soon the election will be over and we will know who will be leading the province of Ontario for the next four years. What will be next for the autism community after the election?

During this election period, The Alliance for Families with Autism has continued to work with all three parties. That work has led us to our upcoming event for November. This event will be unprecedented and unique, as was the debate in June.

We have arranged with all three parties, the elected government will participate in a “Town Hall” Meeting with the autism community hosted by The Alliance for Families with Autism. This meeting will include the Ministers from Education, Children and Youth Services, as well as Community and Social Services. This event will allow our community to meet the Ministers responsible for those ministries and have an opportunity to ask questions and make comments to the new government. The “Town Hall” Meeting will take place in November at a local school in the GTA. The date and location will be confirmed following the election.

We will continue to advocate for our community to ensure every person with autism will receive the support and services they require. We believe that there are different ways to advocate for our community and that is what makes our community so unique. Those different styles of advocating will only bring more attention to the issues and propel our cause even further.

The Alliance for Families with Autism (AFA) will continue to compile and distribute weekly news mailings of pertinent information on autism from Ontario and across Canada to ensure that our community has information available. We appreciate all of the positive comments and feedback we have received regarding our mailings!

As well as October being election month, it is also Autism Awareness Month. Last year we were involved in a province wide candlelight vigil. We have had a number of families request that this be an annual event. The Alliance for Families with Autism will be hosting the event this year. The vigil will take place on Monday, October 01, 2007 from 7:00 – 7:30 pm. The vigil will not be a political evening, although it will be held at MPP riding offices across Ontario. To further inform and build awareness we have invited all candidates to partake in the event from the three main political parties. We want to tell the world, with our candles, that every individual with ASD has the right to shine. We want to honour all individuals and families living with Autism Spectrum Disorder and related disorders.

Please find a list of confirmed locations at our blog at http://allianceforfamilieswithautism.blogspot.com

If you are interested in participating at a different location please contact our primary organizer John McVicar at findingnewmarkets@sympatico.ca

For those of you attending candlelight vigils on October 01, 2007… please remember to light a candle for Miles when you are lighting a candle for your family.

Sincerely,

The Alliance for Families with Autism (AFA)

Executive Members -

Cindy DeCarlo – Barrie
Trish Kitching – Sudbury
Pat La Londe – Kingston
John McVicar – Kitchener
Lisa Prasuhn – Beeton
Posted by at

Monday, September 17, 2007

Autism NEWS Articles Sept 7-15

Autism News Articles
September 7rd – September 13th 2007
(Fill in your riding area, contact AFA and then print your posters!)
****************************************
2ndAnnual
Candlelight Vigil for
Autism Awareness
Hosted by
The Alliance for Families with Autism
Monday, October 1st
7:00 p.m – 7:30 p.m.
MPP Riding Offices
in your community
(Check your phonebook to find your MPP)
MPP:
Contact info:
Location/Address:
***********************
October is Autism Awareness Month
Join your community for the
2nd ANNUAL CANDLELIGHT VIGIL
Monday, October 01, 2007
7:00pm to 7:30pm
Proudly organized by
The Alliance for Families with Autism (AFA)
October 1st, 2007
marks the start of Autism Awareness Month
W
hat began as an idea from a mother of a little boy with autism in Windsor , ended up as a huge event spanning from Windsor to Ottawa and from Toronto to Northern Ontario . It was the beginning of an annual event to ensure everyone in Ontario become a little more aware of the extent of the challenges we face in the world of autism.
There are more than 20,000 people affected by autism in this province!
We already have a number of locations confirmed for the event. You can contact the AFA directly at autismafa@yahoo.ca if you are interested in attending or organizing a vigil at your local MPP’s office. It only takes one person per riding to stand in front of the office with a candle.
We have chosen the MPP offices as locations for this event because it is the Ontario Government that holds such a great part of our kids (adults too) future in its hands.
You can also visit our blog at http://allianceforfamilieswithautism.blogspot.com
for updates of locations as they become available.
If we had 50 people commit then we could cover 50 ridings!
“It doesn’t matter if your child is 5 or 45, just get out there and light your candle.
Sing a song with the kids. Laugh. Cry. Cheer and wave to the passing motorists. You might even educate a few more people in your community about autism. My wife wears a t-shirt with a picture of our grandsons and the words I Love My Grandsons With Autism.” said John McVicar, Executive Member of the AFA and lead organizer of the event.
The more participation we receive the more we are able to build autism awareness. So invite your family, friends, teachers, neighbours, co-workers, etc. Let’s make this an event that the entire Autism community can be proud of!!!!!!
We look forward to hearing from you!

For Miles….
For those of us who remember last year’s event, it was cold and rainy. Yet everyone who participated in the first annual Candlelight Vigil truly felt that is was something very wonderful and worthwhile, and wanted to ensure another vigil would be organized this year. The vigil is not a political event. There will be no signs however there will be lots of candles across the province in your community. We want to honour all individuals and families living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), related disorders.
We want to tell the world, with our candles, that every individual with
ASD has the right to “SHINE”.
Contact our primary organizer to add your location to our blog!
John McVicar
findingnewmarkets@sympatico.ca
If you cannot make a location in your community, light a candle with your family.
The Alliance for Families with Autism (AFA)
autismafa@yahoo.ca
***********************************************************
In Memorium – Stephanie Dye
Autism Coffee Chat
Expresses deep sorrow in the loss of their fellow support group member – Stephanie Dye, from Espanola Ontario , Sunday September 9th 2007. She was only 28.
Our deepest sympathies go out to her dear, dear 5 yr old son Miles who has Autism.
Stephanie gave her entire heart and soul, her time, her devotion all to him. She spoke about how he won a bowling tournament, how he smiled, how they celebrated his birthday with other kids for the first time. Coffee Chat supported Stephanie as she struggled to cope with her son's diagnosis and then ultimately supported her empowering her to gain strength to move forward to get him into IBI. Although a private person, she managed to organize a Candlelight Vigil for Autism Awareness last year in her community with our support – lighting a candle in the name of people with Autism.
We will never forget how she was instrumental in spreading the good word by bringing in Autism Awareness bracelets, pins and bumper stickers, all in the name of Autism.
Stephanie, an angel is out there watching over Miles, it was really too soon for you to go. You will be missed by many and thought of often.
Trish Kitching for Autism Coffee Chat.
We will support the family as they plan for Miles future.
Obituary for Stephanie Dye
DYE, Stephanie - of Espanola passed away at the Espanola General Hospital on Sunday, September 9, 2007 in her 29th year. Loving mother of Miles Gendron at home. Beloved daughter of Peter Dye (wife Maud) of Garson and Wendy (Mrs. Bob Marsh) of Espanola. Dear sister of Krissy (Mrs. Ray Wilson) of Pickering, Lisa (fiance Brent Landry) of Barrie and Louise Beauchamp (partner Chris) of Sudbury . Will be sadly missed by nephews Curtis and Reilley. The family will receive friends for a Memorial Visitation only on Thursday, September 13, 2007 from 11:00 am until 4:00 pm at the BOURCIER FUNERAL HOME, Espanola. Interment of ashes in the Espanola Cemetery . If so desired, donations to Miles Gendron Fund for Autistic Children would be appreciated.
Autism funding sparks protest
Sun, September 16, 2007
By PATRICK MALONEY, SUN MEDIA
Frustrated parents protested across Ontario yesterday on behalf of their autistic children, slamming the Liberals for backing out of a promise to fund a pricey but effective therapy.
The so-called Autism Day of Action, held by the Sarnia-based Ontario Autism Coalition, targeted Dalton McGuinty as the NDP pledged $100 million to offer the one-on-one intensive behavioural intervention (IBI) in schools.
"If you're going to make a promise and break it to children with disabilities, how can we believe anything you're going to say?" coalition founder Susan Fentie, who ran for the Tory nomination in Sarnia-Lambton, said of McGuinty.
"The credibility is not there."
Fentie, who has two autistic sons, led a rally of about 50 people outside the Sarnia campaign office of Caroline Di Cocco, a Liberal cabinet minister, while other coalition members picketed Liberal offices in six other cities.
IBI therapy costs about $30,000 a year for each child and is considered an effective treatment of the disorder that causes impaired social and communication skills.
Funding for IBI used to end at age six but McGuinty, as promised, ended that practice. However, critics say he didn't put enough money in to help the estimated 1,000 kids on an IBI waiting list.
Mary Anne Chambers, the Liberal minister of children and youth services, yesterday defended the party's record, noting it invested $140 million and doubled the number of kids getting IBI therapy.
"Playing political games with these parents and children is disgraceful," read a statement by Chambers.
On the campaign trail yesterday, NDP Leader Howard Hampton promised an NDP government would spend $100 million instituting IBI in all Ontario schools.
News Headlines
Ballot box battle
Autism funding sparks protest
Liberals pledge textbook grant
Tory defends faith school stand
Dion trots out big names

http://www.thestar.com/OntarioElection/article/257115
GOOGLE ALERT
NDP promises aid for autistic kids
Says NDP would soon end 900-child waiting list, but Liberals claim problem goes beyond funding

Sep 16, 2007 04:30 AM
Sean Patrick Sullivan
Canadian Press

The thorny issue of public funding for treatment of children with autism leapt into the Ontario election campaign yesterday, as the New Democrats announced a proposal to provide blanket therapy for all children who need it right in their classrooms – a strategy the Liberals say is unsustainable.
An NDP government would provide publicly funded Intensive Behavioural Intervention – a very expensive, one-on-one treatment – in classrooms for all autistic children, leader Howard Hampton said in Bradford .
Hampton said he would clear the current waiting list of 900 children within three years. About 1,400 kids are funded for the IBI treatment; many other families pay out of pocket.
"With our Ontario autism strategy, a child who qualifies for IBI treatment will benefit from the day they qualify," he said.
"No more long waiting lists, no longer the need for families to mortgage or sell their homes to pay for their children's therapy."
But, in an interview, Children and Youth Services Minister Mary Anne Chambers said the issue can't be solved by tossing money around.
"There simply aren't enough autism support providers in Ontario to provide one-on-one treatment with every child who needs it," she said.
The Liberal government has been working to hire more specialists and establish and expand college training programs for therapists, Chambers said, noting that spending on autism has tripled since the party took power in 2003.
Also yesterday, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory made overtures to the so-called 905 region by pledging up to $200 million annually for health care by 2012.
Tory says Toronto 's ballooning outer layer is underserviced and has been neglected by the Liberal government for years.
"Dalton McGuinty has refused to acknowledge the pressures faced by Ontario 's fastest-growing communities, and as a result, residents are being forced to seek treatments outside their own communities," he said at Oshawa 's Lakeridge Hospital .
"McGuinty has allowed funding to fall behind population growth and needs in this region," Tory said.
On another issue, the premier said yesterday he won't roll back tuition but will instead give post-secondary students an up-front tax credit at the start of the school year.
Speaking to some 300 young Liberals, McGuinty also vowed to increase the number of apprenticeship programs by 25 per cent.
He promised to work with Ottawa to extend the grace period graduates have before they must start paying back their student loans.
McGuinty hopes to increase it from six months to one year, giving students more time to establish themselves professionally before having to make payments.
Financial Post, National Post, Windsor Star

NDP promises millions for children with autism

Dalson Chen, The Windsor Star

Published: Saturday, September 15, 2007
A New Democrat provincial government would correct a Liberal broken promise by investing $100 million a year to provide much needed services for children with autism, says Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton.
"This is something we need to do," said Hampton at a playground in Bradford on Saturday morning. "We can't afford to allow children to languish on a waiting list when we know we can make this kind of difference in their lives. And the money is there. The money just hasn't been spent wisely."
Accompanied by York Simcoe NDP candidate Nancy Morrison and several children with autism including Morrison's 8-year-old son Sean, Hampton pledged that the new funding would be devoted to respite care, research into the causes of autism, and -- "most importantly" -- clearing the waiting list for the autism therapy known as intensive behaviour intervention (IBI).
Hampton and Morrison said the NDP would ensure that IBI services would be available in classrooms for all children with autism who qualify by psychological assessment.
"With our Ontario Autism Strategy, a child who qualifies for IBI treatment will benefit from the day that they qualify. No more long waiting list," Hampton said.
According to Hampton , the Liberal government has allowed the list to balloon to around 1,100 names, more than 12 times what it was previously. Hampton said he believes a NDP government could eliminate the list entirely within three years.
Hampton also pointed to the Liberals' lengthy legal fight against a group of parents of children with autism, who took the Liberals to court for failing to fulfill a 2003 election promise to fund IBI treatment for children over the age of six.
The age restriction was eventually removed in the midst of the court battle.
But Mary Turner, a 41-year-old mother of three children with autism, said she still feels betrayed by the Liberals. "I feel like my vote has been bought."
Turner said that in 2003, she voted for Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty "based on his promise," only to watch children like her 10-year-old daughter Katie go for four years without IBI treatment due to the government considering Katie too old to qualify for funding.
Turner said she believes Katie's development slowed down as a result, and it breaks Turner's heart to think about how beneficial the therapy would've been for Katie. "I think it's lost time that we have to get back."
Hampton said the McGuinty Liberals spent $2.4 million in legal fees "to justify the unjustifiable. Money was spent on lawyers that could have and should have funded special treatment for children with autism for an entire year."
Asked how the NDP would pay for its proposed annual investment, Hampton said that "the money was there, in this past budget year, to do this."
Hampton mentioned other Liberal money controversies such as a "secret $32.5 million slush fund" and $59 million originally slated for autism services until the Liberals "quietly slid it out of the budget and spent it somewhere else."
Asked why the NDP waited until now to announce its autism strategy, Hampton said they chose Saturday to coincide with a day of action that was organized by parents of children with autism.
Laura Kirby-McIntosh, a member of the Ontario Autism Coalition, said rallies occurred on Saturday in six cities in the province, including outside Dalton McGuinty's offices in Ottawa .
Kirby-McIntosh said the coalition is "grassroots and independent," but she was pleased by the NDP announcement. "It shows that one of the political parties is taking the issue seriously."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PC press release
Attention News Editors:

Dalton McGuinty protests so much 

     TORONTO , Sept. 15 /CNW/ - Today Dalton McGuinty is claiming he "kept and
exceeded" his promise to the parents of children with autism.
    Here are the facts:
  
    <<
    -   In 2003, Dalton McGuinty promised the parent of a child with autism
        that he would "devise a feasible way in which autistic children in
        our province can get the support and treatment they need. That
        includes children over the age of six" (E-mail from Dalton McGuinty
        to Nancy Morrison, September 17, 2003).
  
    -   In April 2005, Dalton McGuinty chose to
appeal a ruling of the
        Ontario Superior Court that the age cut off for IBI treatment
        violated the constitutional rights of children with autism ( Woodstock
        Sentinel-Review, April 6, 2005).
  
    -   Dalton McGuinty then took NDP MPP Shelley Martel to court when she
        tried to find out how much the Ontario government spent on the court
        case. This was after Dalton McGuinty fought Martel's freedom of
        information request and was told by the Information and
        Privacy Commissioner that he had to release the information
        (Globe and Mail, March 14, 2007).
  
    -   And if all of that wasn't bad enough, Dalton McGuinty tried to force
        the parents of children with autism to pay for the government's
        $85,000 legal bill for the court case that he chose to continue in
        April 2005 ( Toronto Star, June 11, 2007).
  
    -   Meanwhile, the waiting list for autism treatment has grown from 89 in
        early 2004 to nearly 1,100 children as of August 2007 (Toronto Star,
        January 19, 2007, Timmins Daily Press, August 18, 2007).
    >>
  
    Now Dalton McGuinty is making another promise to the parents of
children
with autism. He says he's going to provide IBI treatment in schools. But what
to make of a March 1, 2007 memo from Ben Levin, Deputy Minister of Education
that made it very clear Dalton McGuinty would not be offering IBI in Ontario 's
schools?
  
    <<
        "Based upon your work and in support of the recommendations of the
        reference group the Ministry will soon release a PPM on the use of
        Applied Behavioural analysis ( ABA ) in schools. The focus of this PPM
        will be ABA teaching practices and not Intensive Behavioural
        Intervention (IBI)...."
    >>
  
    Dalton McGuinty couldn't be trusted in 2003. Why would the parents of
autistic children trust him in 2007?
    Leadership Matters.
  
  
  
For further information: Mike Van Soelen, (647) 722-1760
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Activists urge leaders to support programs for autistic children

Roberta Pennington, The Windsor Star

Published: Saturday, September 15, 2007
Mary Beth Rocheleau just wants for her son what every other parent expects for their children: a good education.
But unlike most other parents, Rocheleau said she has had to constantly fight with the provincial Liberal government to ensure her seven-year-old son Gregory and others like like him who have autism are granted a fair chance at education.
Rocheleau and about a dozen others continued their fight Saturday as they held signs and chanted slogans such as "No more excuses!" and "No more lies" in front of Windsor-West MPP Sandra Pupatello's office as part of the province-wide Autism Day of Action organized by the Ontario Autism Coalition.

Mary Beth Rocheleau, centre, demonstrates along with supporters in front of Windsor-West MPP Sandra Pupatello's office as part of the Ontario Autism Coalition's province-wide day of action Saturday. A mother of a seven-year-old boy with autism, Rocheleau is calling on the government to invest in programs and services to help autistic children.

Roberta Pennington, The Windsor Star
The demonstrators also displayed a life-size cardboard cutout of Premier Dalton McGuinty with a foot-long wooden stick poking out of his face as his nose.
"We want to bring attention to the citizens of Ontario about the issues regarding autism and put some pressure on the politicians because we're tired of their broken promises," Rocheleau said. "When Dalton McGuinty got into office he made a lot of promises ... but he didn't follow through."
Rocheleau and other coalition supporters, who also picketed at the office of Essex MPP Bruce Crozier and several other locations throughout Ontario, maintain McGuinty's government failed to live up to its pledge to help children with autism. Instead of boosting funding to reduce the number of autistic children waiting for specialized therapy, Rocheleau said the Liberals have done "very little" while in power.
"When (McGuinty) got into office, there was less than 100 kids on the wait list, there's over 1,000 now waiting for the therapy," she said, stressing the need for funding to cut the educational therapy wait list.
Additionally, the activists are calling for the specialized therapists -- known as intensive behavioural intervention instructors -- to be accredited and allowed into the public school system.
"It's the only scientifically proven method to work with children with autism," Rocheleau said, adding her son has to be kept home from school to receive the therapy. "If Gregory was deaf or blind, he'd be allowed to bring his facilitator in. We're just asking for the same rights for kids with autism."
Pupatello's office was closed at the time of the demonstration and no one from her Party showed up for the event. Candidates representing the Progressive Conservative and NDP camps for the Windsor-West riding stopped by to show their support.
Lisa Lumley, a Conservative candidate for the district, said it is critical for the government to financially support programs to help families with autistic children.
"We've got to put more financing into it so they can get the help that they need," Lumley said. "We need to be there to help them. John Tory is planning on providing them I believe it's $75 million more to help clear the wait lists."
NDP leader Howard Hampton also made a campaign promise -- at a Brampton playground as the setting -- to invest $100 million toward services for children with autism.
For Jennifer Jones, whose four-year-old son has autism, the attention the coalition's activism has captured gives her "hope" for her son Mitchell's educational future.
"Within this next year we hope something will change," Jones said. "We're hoping, we're hoping. Every year we can hope."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Observer

Autism activists take to streets

Posted By SHAWN JEFFORDS

Local autism activists will take their plight to Sarnia-Lambton MPP Caroline Di Cocco's front door this weekend.
Local parents upset with the McGuinty government's treatment of autistic children will march in front of Di Cocco's London Road campaign office at 11 a.m., one of seven demonstrations across the province. They will be joined by at least two of her rivals in this fall's provincial vote, Conservative Bob Bailey and NDP candidate Barb Millitt.
"What we've always been asking of (McGuinty) is do what you said you'd do," said Ontario Autism Coalition co-founder Susan Fentie of Bright's Grove.
Fentie said before Dalton McGuinty was elected in 2003 he promised the parents of autistic children that he would cut wait lists for treatment for the brain disorder. Fentie said the wait lists remain long and the government has been slow to act on dealing with the issue of treatment in schools.
The Liberal campaign platform for this election includes provisions to cut the wait for Intensive Behavoural Intervention (IBI) and have it instituted in schools to help treat children.
"He's promised this before," said Dan Fentie, also a co-founder of the coalition. "We had it in writing. We're not going to be fooled again."
The protesters will be accompanied by eight "McGuintios", life-size models of Premier Dalton McGuinty adorned with a broom-handle nose. The coalition has raised the ire of the government with the caricatures which liken the premier to the wooden puppet Pinocchio. "It would cost every taxpayer $7.50 a year to cut the wait lists and put IBI in the schools," Susan Fentie said. "It's important they know the facts."
The group will also be accompanied by a TVOntario film crew who are working on a documentary about the effects of autism on families. Local parents are welcome to offer their experiences, said Fentie.
"Autism can take a terrible toll on families," she said. "It's been hard on mine."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Star
All autistic kids would get free 1-on-1 care: Hampton
Says NDP would soon end 900-child waiting list, but Liberals claim problem goes beyond funding
Sep 16, 2007 04:30 AM
Sean Patrick Sullivan
Canadian Press
The thorny issue of public funding for treatment of children with autism leapt into the Ontario election campaign yesterday, as the New Democrats announced a proposal to provide blanket therapy for all children who need it right in their classrooms – a strategy the Liberals say is unsustainable.
An NDP government would provide publicly funded Intensive Behavioural Intervention – a very expensive, one-on-one treatment – in classrooms for all autistic children, leader Howard Hampton said in Bradford .
Hampton said he would clear the current waiting list of 900 children within three years. About 1,400 kids are funded for the IBI treatment; many other families pay out of pocket.
"With our Ontario autism strategy, a child who qualifies for IBI treatment will benefit from the day they qualify," he said.
"No more long waiting lists, no longer the need for families to mortgage or sell their homes to pay for their children's therapy."
But, in an interview, Children and Youth Services Minister Mary Anne Chambers said the issue can't be solved by tossing money around.
"There simply aren't enough autism support providers in Ontario to provide one-on-one treatment with every child who needs it," she said.
The Liberal government has been working to hire more specialists and establish and expand college training programs for therapists, Chambers said, noting that spending on autism has tripled since the party took power in 2003.
Also yesterday, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory made overtures to the so-called 905 region by pledging up to $200 million annually for health care by 2012.
Tory says Toronto 's ballooning outer layer is underserviced and has been neglected by the Liberal government for years.
"Dalton McGuinty has refused to acknowledge the pressures faced by Ontario 's fastest-growing communities, and as a result, residents are being forced to seek treatments outside their own communities," he said at Oshawa 's Lakeridge Hospital .
"McGuinty has allowed funding to fall behind population growth and needs in this region," Tory said.
On another issue, the premier said yesterday he won't roll back tuition but will instead give post-secondary students an up-front tax credit at the start of the school year.
Speaking to some 300 young Liberals, McGuinty also vowed to increase the number of apprenticeship programs by 25 per cent.
He promised to work with Ottawa to extend the grace period graduates have before they must start paying back their student loans.
McGuinty hopes to increase it from six months to one year, giving students more time to establish themselves professionally before having to make payments.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NDP vows funding for all children with autism; Liberals say more 
> therapists needed (Elxn-Ont-Main)
> By Sean Patrick Sullivan
>  
> TORONTO (CP) _ The thorny issue of public funding for treatment
> of children with autism leapt into the Ontario election campaign
> Saturday, as the New Democrats announced a proposal to provide
> blanket therapy for all children who need it right in their
> classrooms _ a strategy the
Liberals say is unsustainable.
>  
> An NDP government would provide publicly funded Intensive
> Behavioural Intervention _ a very expensive, one-on-one treatment _
> in classrooms for all autistic children, Leader Howard Hampton said
> during a campaign stop.
>  
> Speaking at a park in a suburb north of Toronto , Hampton said he
> would clear the waiting list that 900 children currently are on
> within three years. About 1,400 kids are funded for the IBI
> treatment; many other families pay out of
pocket.
>  
> ``With our Ontario autism strategy, a child who qualifies for IBI
> treatment will benefit from the day they qualify,'' he said.
>  
> ``No more long waiting lists, no longer the need for families to
> mortgage or sell their homes to pay for their children's therapy.''
>  
> But, in an interview, **>Children and Youth Services Minister<**
 **>Mary
> Anne Chambers<** said the issue can't be solved by tossing money
> around.
>  
> ``There simply
aren't enough autism support providers in Ontario
> to provide one-on-one treatment with every child who needs it,'' she
> said.
>  
> The Liberal government has been working to hire more specialists
> and establish and expand college training programs for therapists,
> Chambers said, noting that spending on autism has tripled since the
> party took power in 2003.
>  
> Sorting out what to do about funding for treatment for children
> with autism has been a sticky issue for the Liberal government.
>  
>
Critics have said the Liberals haven't done enough to help
> parents cover the costs, yet the government spent $2.4 million over
> seven years _ including several under Progressive Conservative rule
> _ to fight parents suing for treatment for kids over six.
>  
> Before July 2005, autism treatment was extended only to children
> under the age of six. The change was the result of a campaign
> promise by Premier Dalton McGuinty in 2003.
>  
> While schools are required to provide a broad range of Applied
> Behavioural Analysis therapies, the decision on whether to allow IBI
> currently remains at the
discretion of school boards and principals.
>  
> Parents gave a mixed reaction to the NDP policy announcement,
> stressing they are tired of the politics being played and want only
> whatever is best for their children.
>  
> Mary Turner of Bradford, Ont., has three children with autism
> whom she wishes could receive treatment in the classroom.
>  
> ``My school is fantastic with my kids, and they would love to
> help them more, but the funding just isn't there,'' Turner said.
>  
> ``It would be nice if the politics and policies weren't
there,
> and they were looking after the best interests of the kids, and we
> could actually get my private therapist into the school to help the
> school staff,'' she said.
>  
> Turner said she needs to pull her daughter out of school to get
> the 20 hours of treatment the government allows. ``We can't do that
> and have her still be a child,'' she said.
>  
> Cindy DeCarlo, the mother of a five-year-old autistic boy and
> co-founder of the Alliance for Families with Autism, said while
> she's pleased by the attention being given to autism, she
is
> concerned about having an adequate infrastructure to support the
> children and therapists.
>  
> It's encouraging that the three main political parties are
> considering the needs of families touched by autism, but parents
> shouldn't be given false hope, she said.
>  
> ``Regardless of who gets elected, there's a lot of work to be
> done and it's not going to be a Band-Aid solution,'' she said.
>  
> Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory released an autism
> policy in February, saying his party would clear the wait list for
>
children under six, continue support for school-age children, and
> provide a variety of funding and service options to parents.
>  
> The Conservative policy would cost an additional $75 million
> annually. The NDP policy would require an additional $100 million
> each year on top of the $116 million the government now spends.
>  
> Hampton 's announcement was timed to coincide with a provincewide
> Day of Action for children with autism, sponsored by the
> non-partisan Ontario Autism Coalition.
>  
> Co-founder Laura Kirby-McIntosh, who has
a seven-year-old son
> with autism, said her group held rallies in six cities to raise
> awareness and make sure autism is on the political agenda.
>  
> ``We're hoping that by visiting so many Liberal offices today
> we'll provoke a response out of them,'' she said.
>  
> The coalition, one of several broad-based autism groups in the
> province, is calling for an end to the wait list, a framework to
> bring IBI therapists into schools, and a formal accreditation system
> for therapists, Kirby-McIntosh said.
>

Parents blast McGuinty on autism

Dozens rally outside constituency office to put funding for treatment on agenda

Maria Cook, The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Sunday, September 16, 2007
About 25 parents of children with autism -- many struggling with medical bills that can exceed a year's salary -- rallied yesterday outside Dalton McGuinty's Ottawa South constituency office to make funding for autism treatment an election issue.
"We don't want Dalton McGuinty re-elected," said Andrew Kavchak, an Ottawa South voter whose son has autism. "He doesn't deserve our trust."
Among the parents were David and Lesley Lander, of Kanata , whose two-year-old son, Jordan, was recently diagnosed with autism. The couple is spending about $40,000 a year for behavioural, speech and occupational therapy.

Two-year-old Jordan Lander, who was recently diagnosed with autism, joined parents David and Lesley outside Dalton McGuinty's constituency office yesterday. The Landers spend about $40,000 per year on treatment.

Julie Oliver, The Ottawa Citizen
One-third is paid by private insurers, and two-thirds comes out of their pockets.
"I've been let down by the health care system," said Mr. Lander, a 35-year-old software developer. "The only thing I've ever received is a one-hour visit with a social worker."
The demonstration was organized by the Ontario Autism Coalition, which held similar events across the province.
The coalition wants specialized instructors to work with autistic children in schools and treatment provided to everyone who qualifies for it. The group is also pushing for proper training and formal accreditation for therapists.
"They have a very serious situation and they really need government support," said Richard Raymond, the Tory candidate running against Mr. McGuinty. "They seem to be falling through the cracks."
Parents of autistic children took the McGuinty government to court in 2003 over a broken election promise to fund what is known as intensive behavioural intervention (IBI) for autistic children over six years of age.
The treatment can cost up to $60,000 a year, but is considered the only scientifically proven treatment available.
The parents won the initial decision, but the province won on appeal.
Although Mr. McGuinty recently announced $10 million for IBI services in the classroom, some parents remain skeptical.
"For the last four years he denied our children," said Sam Yassine, an Ottawa member of the OAC executive committee. "Now, before the election, he announces $10 million. We find this very cynical. It's another promise to be broken."
The NDP yesterday announced they would provide publicly funded IBI services in classrooms and would clear the wait list for autism services.
"Every child who needs IBI therapy should have access to it," Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton said. "It's a practical, doable and sensible thing we can do that will make an immediate difference to the day-to-day lives of today's families."
The PC platform on autism includes clearing the wait list for treatment for children under the age of six, offering parents direct funding for private services and expanding respite programs.
"Under Dalton McGuinty's watch, children on wait lists for autism treatment has grown from 89 to 1,100," said Lisa MacLeod, opposition critic for children and youth and Nepean-Carleton PC candidate.
It can take four years to get publicly funded treatment, even though experts stress the importance of early diagnosis and treatment for autism, a developmental disorder that affects communication.

Hampton Promises NDP Commitment To Autistic Children As Campaigns Near First Full Week

Saturday September 15, 2007
CityNews.ca Staff
As the campaigning closed in on the end of its first week in the race for Ontario 's next premier, NDP leader Howard Hampton promised to put the province's money where his mouth is, especially when it comes to autistic children.
"Our commitment is this," Hampton said Saturday at a Bradford playground flanked by parents and their autistic children. "We will increase the investment in autism services by $100 million a year."
And while Hampton did that, Conservative leader John Tory was on the fall fair circuit just east of Toronto , promising $200 million a year towards health care for residents of the 905.
As for incumbent Dalton McGuinty, the Liberal leader was focusing on students Saturday, promising more money for textbooks.
"We're going to put in place as of next September a new textbook and technology grant of $300 for all full-time undergraduate students in Ontario ," he said.
McGuinty also insists the Liberals will have at least $500 per semester for students who drive at least 80 kilometres one way each day to class.
Interesting Books.
Hi, Karen here. What can I say about this wonderful book?

I just began reading it a couple of days ago and finished last night. It took me awhile because I kept going back and reading parts over again because they were so compelling. I loved it!


That's Life with Autism
Tales and Tips
for Families with Autism


Edited by
Donna Satterlee Ross and
Kelly Ann Jolly


That's Life with Autism is full of advice and inspiration, written by parents for other parents and professionals caring for children on the autism spectrum. The overall message of this book is that people affected by autism are not alone.

Each chapter addresses a specific topic, and range from the effect of autism in the family on couple or sibling relationships and intervention options to educational issues, diet, and the role of friends and relatives. Points for reflection prompt the reader to discuss and think further about the issues covered. The contributors also provide starting points for the development of positive strategies, including networks of support in which parents can learn from and find support from others in similar situations.
"After my daughter was diagnosed with Autism. I searched everywhere for stories about other families and how they were coping and living. This book has packaged it all up and sorted it into catagories. Very clever.

Easy to read and I especially like these features:

1. Real stories from real families
2. Tips from the parents at the end of their story
3. Ages of children are included in the story intro
4. Well-organized catagories to easily find a story to read about

This is a great book and would even make an excellent gift to a parent of a child with autism. Excellent book! "
- L. Behrendt MN

The practical and positive book will be of interest to anyone working with children on the autism spectrum, from parents to professionals to school administrators.
"This book has so much in common for parents with children on the autism spectrum. This is a must! Just reading it allows you to relate to others with autism isolation and know you are not alone in the world. I would recommend to anyone working with or dealing with a child on the spectrum! A++++++++++++ "
- K. Jolly, PA
Book's Introduction

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed my husband's college newspaper lying open on the table. I skimmed the classified section with interest:

My name is Sarah. I am 4 years old and have autism.

Therapist needed for ABA program, flexible hours.

No experience necessary (will train). $9/hour.

Little did I suspect that the decision to answer the advertisement would change my life as I knew it. To me, at first, it was just a part-time job to pay the bills and keep my foot in the door of my profession. I thought I could drive to work, spend a couple of hours doing drills that someone else created and go home to be with my new baby--no responsibilities beyond the front door, no strings attached. There was no contract and I could leave whenever I wanted.

By the end of my first week at work I was hooked. Helping Sarah taught me a whole new way of looking at the world. When I arrived I didn't know the first thing about autism. My knowledge was limited to a horrible black-­and-white film from the 1960s that I had watched in an Abnormal Psychology class as an undergraduate; it included footage of a boy repeatedly banging his head on a wall. Thanks to Jamie, Sarah's mother, my limited vocabulary soon included terms like Lovaas, thimerosal and casein. Catherine Maurice became my hero, as I'm sure she did for many of you, too. I also learned the correct use of prompting, reinforcers, and restraints.

More importantly, though, I didn't just feel like an employee--I felt like a member of the family. Through our conversations at the beginning and end of each session Jamie grew to be like a mother, sister, best friend, educator and mentor rolled in to one. In return I listened to her concerns about the therapy program, the school system, and her hopes and fears for Sarah. With my limited experience dealing with autism I wished I could do more, but I didn't know how.

I spent the next two years doing everything I could to keep the program going and ensure that Sarah received consistent therapy at home. Thinking up new drills, training therapists and ultimately hiring other therapists were all part of my expanding duties. I watched as Jamie slowly removed herself from the program, increasingly overwhelmed by the stress, until one day the strain became too much and she left. No one told the therapists exactly what had happened but one thing was obvious: she was out of the picture, at least temporarily. After that the program fell apart and I also left.

After a six-month stint away from autism, and the birth of my second child, I felt compelled to return to work. I found a new family and started the process of investing myself in their program--professionally and emotionally--and I integrated myself into the rhythm of the family and therapy team. Again, I was struck by how much the mother relied on me to talk through concerns and simply to listen. While my knowledge had definitely increased, I still felt inadequately prepared to answer her questions in the breadth and depth she needed. Ultimately the family left the state to be closer to a specialized school; again, I felt that although I had performed my duties as a therapist, I hadn't done enough to help the mother.

Then an idea came into my mind. What if there was a book, written for parents, by parents who wanted to share their experiences with autism in order to help other parents who were experiencing similar trials? I set a goal to interview two parents in every state, but quickly determined I had bitten off more than I could chew. My personal contacts in the autism community were limited and centralized in one state. I needed help and I didn't know where to turn. So I did what most parents in this book suggest and tried my luck on the Internet. Immediately I connected with people across the country that were willing to help. Two treasured resources I discovered were the Parent 2 Parent Network at Unlocking Autism (www.unlockingautism.org) and the co-editor of this book, Kelly Jolly. I found Kelly through a discussion board at www.parenthoodplace.com, which she hosts and, based on the merit of her story (see "Kelly and Shaelyn" in Chap ter 1) asked her to assist in collecting the stories for this book. She shared my vision to support the families of children diagnosed with autism.

This book is the end result of our passion and desire to help mothers and other family members to cope with autism in their lives. The original concept was to provide a forum for parents to help other parents, and to provide hope and healing; however, in the process of discovering the stories, it became so much more. Each story provides a unique look into "life with autism" but, more than that, the stories provide a basis for understanding common experiences, discussions, and personal reflection. This book is for you, as a testament to my love for those family members who sacrifice so much to make a difference in the life of a child.

Donna Satterlee Ross
"This book is an Excelent resours for Parents just learning an Autism Diagnosis because it shares what other parents and children have already lived thru and lets them say they are not alone .Autism really isnt the end of the world. It hurts but it but it also teaches us so much and in that we grow as people and as parents Angela AKA Codys Mom " - E. McDonough
"I am a teacher and summer residential camp director who has the pleasure of working with children, adults and their families on the autism spectrum.

This book was a great read and provided me with much insight that I have already shared with my coworkers at school and plan to share with my staff at camp this summer. It provides a real down to earth outlook. Thank you! "
- S. Anderson
REMINDER
See last mailing for info..
Autism Ontario – Toronto Chapter Annual Ride, Stride and Glide for Autism Cycle is fast approaching. We look forward to seeing you there to support families of autistic individuals living in your community!
Date to remember: Sunday, September 23, 2007
Where: Thistletown Regional Centre/Rowntree Mills Park
On site Registration at: 9:00 am
Route Kick Off at: 10:00 am
Free BBQ lunch
Kids’ Activities
Free Parking at the Thistletown Regional Centre parking grounds
And More!!
Thanks so much. I’m enclosing our flyer in the event you can include the attachment too. Cheers!
Marti Veliz
Autism Ontario – Toronto Chapter
Volunteer
From a Listmate:
Sept. 7th
September 7, 2007 SAULT STAR (ON) PAGE: A1 (FRONT)

Candidates spotlight health care

Local hopefuls criticize, laud new SAH plan

All three candidates running for mainstream parties in the provincial election have one thing in common.
They believe that health care in Sault Ste. Marie is one of the main issues and that voters will take time to scrutinize party platforms. But that's where the common thread between candidates ends.
They each have their own views of what a vote for them will mean if their party gets elected Oct. 10.
Incumbent Liberal David Orazietti shows pride in his government's record.
"People are pleased with the progress we've made in the community and they're glad to see that the hospital is under construction," he said.
But his opponents put a different spin on the new hospital plan.
PC candidate Josh Pringle said the community is offended that it took so long to get the hospital underway and argues the Liberals offended Ontarians when they imposed the health-tax premium - the largest tax increase in the province's history - and at the same time cut coverage including chiropractic and optometry services.
NDP challenger Jeff Arbus agrees the health-tax premium and the services not covered are a sore spot with area residents.
"The people tell me they've been let down by (Premier Dalton) McGuinty. He's put himself first while the working people are working harder and falling behind," Arbus said.
Arbus said he's an advocate of private enterprise but insists it shouldn't be part of health care.
"The impact on our hospital has already been seen with contracting out cleaning services," said Arbus, who believes by not providing the right services and equipment, Sault Area Hospital had to fight the dreaded c. difficile bacteria.
All the candidates have plans they're pushing to improve long-term care or special services.
For Arbus it's ensuring children with autism receive intensive behavioural therapy treatment that has proven successful and improving long-term care facilities for seniors.
Pringle said the Conservative plan is to invest in more doctors and nurses and provide $35 million of long term care upgrades.
Orazietti said his government's plan is already in the works and the community will continue to see improvements due to investments such as the Northern Ontario Medical School , increasing amounts of foreign-trained doctors and a plan to provide for more long-term care services.
Arbus, an educator for 30 years, faults the McGuinty government for not keeping its promise to change the funding formula for publicly-funded schools.
"Local boards need to be allowed to generate funds and there needs to be a process to move more in that direction," he said.
He also lays blame on the provincial government for its lack of funding to post-secondary education, which has resulted in Ontario 's graduates holding the record for having the highest average debt load upon graduation in Canada .
Pringle, an Algoma University College graduate, said he wants to see his alma mater become an independent university but believes that more government funding will be needed to make that a reality.
Orazietti, a former AUC board member and member of the independence committee, said his personal goal is to work toward an independent charter for the post-secondary institution.
"I can tell you that ministry staff are working on it and it's an initiative I'm eager to see take place in our community," he said.
Orazietti believes post-secondary institutions are generally underrated as economic generators in the community.
"Steps towards independence mean a major step for the economy in this community," he said.
Each candidate has also established personal goals.
For Pringle, it's ensuring that the PC platform moves ahead.
"I'll keep my word and work on achieving the goals of the party platform through investment into the community and province," he said.
He also wants to ensure more jobs are created in Northern Ontario through the party's plan to decentralize 10 per cent of ministry jobs and improve infrastructure.
Arbus said he believes this election is about people and working families who want representation that they can count on.
"People would be electing a reliable leader who understands them and puts them first," he said.
He cites the government's inability to increase the minimum wage to $10 per hour.
"Instead, Mr. McGuinty gave himself a $40,000 raise," Arbus said.
Orazietti said he's seen the success with the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp and its $38 million of investments into Sault Ste. Marie.
While the fund's annual budget is $60 million, Orazietti wants to see that increased to $100 million and ensure the city can access the fund to create new jobs and move forward.
From Ellen Notbohm
Get on her NEWSLETTER List!
Ellen
Ellen Notbohm
(503) 452-7801
emailme@ellennotbohm.com
http://www.ellennotbohm.com
My website is www.ellennotbohm.com. We are currently working on setting up an archive on the site with past issues of the newsletter. It should be up in the very near future. I don’t have the September newsletter posted anywhere at the moment, but I’m happy to send it to anyone who expresses an interest, and I certainly encourage you to forward it to whomever you like.
From a Listmate
Ottawa Sun
August 28, 2007

Tories air out attacks on Grits

By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF
The John Tory Conservatives took to the radio airwaves yesterday with a series of negative ads tackling the record of the Dalton McGuinty government.
In one spot on the so-called Colle-gate scandal, Tory talks about a controversial $1-million grant to a cricket club that asked for $150,000. The Opposition leader criticizes the Liberals for sending taxpayer dollars to groups that later revealed Grit connections.
"Mr. McGuinty just sent your money to his friends while kids with autism, families without doctors and farmers in trouble were told there was none," Tory says in one of five ads.
In another ad on the topic of leadership, Tory says: "Misleading is saying what you think people want to hear, then backtracking. Sometimes, people call that deception."
Finance Minister Greg Sorbara said the Conservative leader has nothing new to add so he's attacking his opponents.
"It's so sad to see him basically try to grasp at whatever negativism he can in order to grab a headline."
Tory said he's telling people why he thinks a change in government is necessary, and why he believes he can do a better job. "With Dalton McGuinty, what taxpayers are right to expect and what they get are two very, very different things."
NDP Leader Howard Hampton said he plans to remain positive during the campaign. "I'm going to stick to the issues," he said.
From a Listmate
September 7, 2007 SAULT STAR (ON) PAGE: A1 (FRONT)

Candidates spotlight health care

Local hopefuls criticize, laud new SAH plan

All three candidates running for mainstream parties in the provincial election have one thing in common.
They believe that health care in Sault Ste. Marie is one of the main issues and that voters will take time to scrutinize party platforms. But that's where the common thread between candidates ends.
They each have their own views of what a vote for them will mean if their party gets elected Oct. 10.
Incumbent Liberal David Orazietti shows pride in his government's record.
"People are pleased with the progress we've made in the community and they're glad to see that the hospital is under construction," he said.
But his opponents put a different spin on the new hospital plan.
PC candidate Josh Pringle said the community is offended that it took so long to get the hospital underway and argues the Liberals offended Ontarians when they imposed the health-tax premium - the largest tax increase in the province's history - and at the same time cut coverage including chiropractic and optometry services.
NDP challenger Jeff Arbus agrees the health-tax premium and the services not covered are a sore spot with area residents.
"The people tell me they've been let down by (Premier Dalton) McGuinty. He's put himself first while the working people are working harder and falling behind," Arbus said.
Arbus said he's an advocate of private enterprise but insists it shouldn't be part of health care.
"The impact on our hospital has already been seen with contracting out cleaning services," said Arbus, who believes by not providing the right services and equipment, Sault Area Hospital had to fight the dreaded c. difficile bacteria.
All the candidates have plans they're pushing to improve long-term care or special services.
For Arbus it's ensuring children with autism receive intensive behavioural therapy treatment that has proven successful and improving long-term care facilities for seniors.
Pringle said the Conservative plan is to invest in more doctors and nurses and provide $35 million of long term care upgrades.
Orazietti said his government's plan is already in the works and the community will continue to see improvements due to investments such as the Northern Ontario Medical School , increasing amounts of foreign-trained doctors and a plan to provide for more long-term care services.
Arbus, an educator for 30 years, faults the McGuinty government for not keeping its promise to change the funding formula for publicly-funded schools.
"Local boards need to be allowed to generate funds and there needs to be a process to move more in that direction," he said.
He also lays blame on the provincial government for its lack of funding to post-secondary education, which has resulted in Ontario 's graduates holding the record for having the highest average debt load upon graduation in Canada .
Pringle, an Algoma University College graduate, said he wants to see his alma mater become an independent university but believes that more government funding will be needed to make that a reality.
Orazietti, a former AUC board member and member of the independence committee, said his personal goal is to work toward an independent charter for the post-secondary institution.
"I can tell you that ministry staff are working on it and it's an initiative I'm eager to see take place in our community," he said.
Orazietti believes post-secondary institutions are generally underrated as economic generators in the community.
"Steps towards independence mean a major step for the economy in this community," he said.
Each candidate has also established personal goals.
For Pringle, it's ensuring that the PC platform moves ahead.
"I'll keep my word and work on achieving the goals of the party platform through investment into the community and province," he said.
He also wants to ensure more jobs are created in Northern Ontario through the party's plan to decentralize 10 per cent of ministry jobs and improve infrastructure.
Arbus said he believes this election is about people and working families who want representation that they can count on.
"People would be electing a reliable leader who understands them and puts them first," he said.
He cites the government's inability to increase the minimum wage to $10 per hour.
"Instead, Mr. McGuinty gave himself a $40,000 raise," Arbus said.
Orazietti said he's seen the success with the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp and its $38 million of investments into Sault Ste. Marie.
While the fund's annual budget is $60 million, Orazietti wants to see that increased to $100 million and ensure the city can access the fund to create new jobs and move forward.
Google Alert
Attention News Editors:

Dalton McGuinty's Record on Autism 

     TORONTO , Sept. 7 /CNW/ - For a politician who claims he wants to run on
his record and who claims that he's "being straight with people," Dalton
McGuinty sure has a funny way of showing
it.
  
    <<
    Here are the facts:
  
      -  Dalton McGuinty promised the parent of a child with autism that he
         would "devise a feasible way in which autistic children in our
         province can get the support and treatment they need. That includes
         children over the age of six" (E-mail from Dalton McGuinty to Nancy
         Morrison, September 17,
2003).
  
      -  In April 2005, Dalton McGuinty chose to appeal a ruling of the
         Ontario Superior Court that the age cut off for IBI treatment
         violated the constitutional rights of children with autism
         ( Woodstock Sentinel-Review, April 6, 2005).
  
      -  Dalton McGuinty then took NDP MPP Shelley Martel to court when she
         tried to find out how much the Ontario government spent on the court
         case. This was after Dalton McGuinty fought Martel's freedom of
         information request and was told by the Information and Privacy
         Commissioner that he had to release the information (Globe and Mail,
         March 14, 2007).
  
      -  Meanwhile, the waiting list for autism treatment has grown from 89
         in early 2004 to nearly 1,100 children as of December 2006 ( Toronto
         Star, January 19, 2007, Timmins Daily Press, August 18, 2007).
    >>
  
    Now, on the eve of an election, Dalton McGuinty is making yet another
promise to children with autism. And if, as he's so fond of saying, the best
predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, then why should the parents
of autistic children trust Dalton McGuinty?
  
    Leadership Matters.
  
  
  
For further information: Mike Van Soelen, (647) 722-1760

'Huge opportunity'

Posted By ALLAN BENNER

Posted 8 days ago
New Democratic Party leader Howard Hampton said the Oct. 10 election promises to be a "huge opportunity" for his party, considering the lack of faith people have in the province's Liberal government.
He said Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty is "now promising over and over again, things that he promised before and didn't do."
And the more promises McGuinty makes, "the more people shake their heads. The more people say, 'I can't believe this guy.'"
Hampton, the MPP for the Kenora-Rainy River riding, said the NDP can build on the strength of people like Peter Kormos from the current Niagara Centre riding, and Andrea Horwath from Hamilton east, to fill more seats in the provincial legislature following the election in their neighbouring ridings.
"We start with Peter and we go from there," he said.
Hampton was the guest speaker during the Welland riding nomination meeting, Wednesday.
He said the NDP went out of its way to find candidates that can relate to the impression that many people have that the Liberal government is "more concerned about itself than it is concerned about the issues that matter in my neighbourhood."
An example of that is the decision to increase the wages for MPPs. McGuinty's annual salary increased by about $40,000 he said during the meeting.
Another example of the Liberal's lack of credibility is concerning the discrimination against children with autism. Prior to the last election, he said McGuinty promised to restore funding for intensive behavioral Intervention for children over the age of six - slashed by the previous Progressive Conservative government.
"Imagine the hope you feel as a parent" when the treatment begins to make a difference in the life of a child suffering from autism.
"And imagine how desperate you'd feel to watch you child start to regress" after they were no longer eligible for the treatment after they turn six years old.
Those parents felt terribly desperate.
But six months after the election, he said the McGuinty government marched the parents "though every court, every appeals court, and every kind of legal mechanism, not just to stop them, but to fight them tooth and nail."
Even when the parents won their court battle, he said only $15 million of the promised $59 million actually went to helping children with autism.
Hampton said the candidates representing the party are people who can say "with credibility, 'I know the struggles you face, I know the difficult decisions you have to make and the challenges because I faced them myself.' That is important."
From a Listmate
http://www.youtube.com/user/HowardHampton2007
September 7, 2007

NDP TV AD EXPOSES McGUINTY RECORD OF BROKEN PROMISES

Ontario's NDP today unveiled a new TV ad that reminds working families about Dalton McGuinty’s miserable record of breaking promises. The ad highlights key McGuinty failures including broken-promise health tax, children with autism being denied treatment and McGuinty giving himself a $40,000 pay raise while denying working families a fair $10 minimum wage.
Help us get the ad on TVs across Ontario ! Donate Now
McGUINTY'S PLATFORM REHASHES BROKEN PROMISES
NDP leader Howard Hampton says the McGuinty Liberals are insulting working families by trying to sell them the same platform of promises he spent the last four years breaking. Hampton says after four years of broken promises, hardworking Ontarians won’t believe Dalton McGuinty again.
NOW OR NEVER:
THE NDP PLAN TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING
After four years of Liberal inaction on the environment, NDP Leader Howard Hampton is inviting Ontario families to support “Now or Never”, his plan to meet Kyoto and fight global warming. The NDP’s practical solutions will make life healthier and more secure for working families by addressing the serious environmental problems that have gotten worse under McGuinty’s Liberals.
I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY
We should all pay attention to what Hampton says in the coming weeks, as today's NDP platform plank could become tomorrow's government policy.
— Ian Urquhart, Toronto Star, September 5, 2007
www.ontariondp.com
To be unsubscribed from the Weekly Digest List #8 mailing list, simply click on the link below:
Unsubscribe nancymorrison@rogers.com
From a listmate
Attention News Editors:

Dalton McGuinty's Record on Autism 

     TORONTO , Sept. 7 /CNW/ - For a politician who claims he wants to run on
his record and who claims that he's "being straight with people," Dalton
McGuinty sure has a funny way of showing it.
  
    <<
    Here are the facts:
  
      -  Dalton
McGuinty promised the parent of a child with autism that he
         would "devise a feasible way in which autistic children in our
         province can get the support and treatment they need. That includes
         children over the age of six" (E-mail from Dalton McGuinty to Nancy
         Morrison, September 17, 2003).
  
      -  In April 2005, Dalton McGuinty chose to appeal a ruling of the
         Ontario Superior Court that the age cut off for IBI treatment
         violated the constitutional rights of children with autism
         ( Woodstock Sentinel-Review, April 6, 2005).
  
      -  Dalton McGuinty then took NDP MPP Shelley Martel to court when she
         tried to find out how much the Ontario government spent on the court
         case. This was after Dalton McGuinty fought Martel's freedom of
         information request and was told by the Information and Privacy
         Commissioner that he had to release the information (Globe and
Mail,
         March 14, 2007).
  
      -  Meanwhile, the waiting list for autism treatment has grown from 89
         in early 2004 to nearly 1,100 children as of December 2006 ( Toronto
         Star, January 19, 2007, Timmins Daily Press, August 18, 2007).
    >>
  
    Now, on the eve of an election, Dalton McGuinty is making yet another
promise to children with autism. And if, as he's so fond of saying, the best
predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, then why should the parents
of autistic children trust Dalton McGuinty?
  
    Leadership Matters.
  
  
  
For further information: Mike Van Soelen, (647) 722-1760
From a friend

Visit the Revolution Health Online College Mental Health Fair

Click on the above link and show your support for the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation. For every unique visitor to the OCF's Online Health Fair Page, Revolution Health will pay the OCF $.25 cent!
The OC Foundation has been invited by our partner Revolution Health to join with it and 10 other select nonprofit mental health groups to share important mental health information by participating in its first Online College Mental Health Fair. We will have our own “virtual” health booth featuring up-to-date information dealing with the mental health issues facing college students and their parents.
The OCF page features a description of OCD and information about the OC Foundation. There will be links from our Health Fair page to the Foundation’s website, www.ocfoundation.org, where you will find downloadable brochures about obsessive compulsive disorder. There will also be a link to Organized Chaos, our webzine for teens and young adults as well as a link to the Compulsive Hoarding section of our website.
Revolution Health will be making a donation to all participating organization that bring guests to visit the health fair, so be sure to come by and show your support.
Google alert
Attention News Editors:

John Tory Autism Fact Check: Who Sued Who? 

     TORONTO , Sept. 9 /CNW/ - As John Tory held one of the most negative
campaign launches in the history of Ontario politics, he also continued his
revisionist approach to how the Conservatives treated children with autism in
 Ontario .
    Today Tory incorrectly claimed that autism lawsuits were started by the
McGuinty government. He said the government "turned around and sued them
(parents of autistic children) in court."
  
    Fact Check:
  
    Who filed the lawsuit against
who?
  
    On November 24, 1999, a group of families with autistic children filed a
lawsuit against the Conservative government. One of the parents said: "The
government is just trying to save money by excluding older children. We aren't
going to accept that our children's health would be compromised in this way."
    The suit finally went to court in April 2003, still under the
Conservative government. It was one more mess the Conservatives left behind to
be cleaned up.
  
    What did McGuinty Liberals promise?
  
    "The Ontario Liberals support extending autism treatment beyond the age
of six. In government, my team and I will work with clinical
directors,
parents, teachers and school boards to devise a feasible way in which autistic
children in our province can get the support and treatment they need. That
includes children over the age of six."
    Neither the Conservatives nor NDP even mentioned the word "autism" in
their 2003 election platforms.
  
    What did McGuinty Liberals deliver?
  
    We ended the unfair Conservative age cut off. Now kids have access to
autism treatment beyond the age of 6. We also more than tripled our investment
in autism services, more than doubled the number of children being served,
created a new college program to train more therapists, and are for the first
time expanding IBI into
schools.
  
    Here's what one parent of an autistic child says now
  
    "I am very pleased that over 200 additional IBI spots have been funded
while children over age 6 continue to remain in this program. I have
confidence that Minister Chambers and her ministry will ensure that families
will be able to access these services quickly and that children will be
receiving high quality treatment." - Tammy Star, parent of an autistic child
(Ministry of Children and Youth Services press release, August 17, 2007)
  
  
  
For further information: Ben Chin, (416) 961-3800 ext. 412,
ben_chin@ontarioliberal.ca
From a Listmate, Adam Feinstein
Dear conference delegate,
  
  Just a quick note to say that the latest issue of my 40-page monthly 
international autism newsletter, Looking Up (www.lookingupautism.org), 
is out now. Each month, we publish the most recent research findings, 
news and views from the world of autism.
  
   The latest issue
includes:
  
GENETICS RESEARCH SPECIAL: All the latest autism findings from around 
the world
  
BIOMEDICAL STUDIES:   New research into effect of gluten- and 
casein-free diet on autistic children
  
AROUND THE GLOBE:  Electric shocks rightly condemned - but parents 
insist: 'Our autistic son needs electric prod to stop him banging his
 head'
  
EMPLOYMENT:  'People with autism can be valued workers'
  
We cast an eye back on just a few of the many
stimulating presentations
 
at the second World Autism Congress, including contributions from 
Professor RITA JORDAN, WENDY LAWSON and Dr PETER VERMEULEN
  
Misuses of the word 'autism'
  
AUTISM AND THE ARTS:  Playwright honoured for dark comedy; Icelandic 
documentary tackles all aspects of autism; Hindi film brings autism
 into 
the mainstream
  
We pay tribute to SYBIL ELGAR,  world pioneer in autism education
  
  
In the next few issues of LOOKING
UP:
  
Interview with Raun Kaufman, director of the Son Rise Institute
Education special
Language issues in autism
Autism in Asia and Africa
Autism and sports
A report from the Autism-Europe congress in Oslo
  
      You can find more details about how to obtain Looking Up by going
 
to the website (www.lookingupautism.org). You will also find a new, 
improved index and search engine, full contents of all back issues, as 
well as some free
articles from previous editions (including interviews
 
with Dr Gary Mesibov, Dr Tony Attwood, Theo Peeters, Dr Eric
 Courchesne, 
Professor Digby Tantam and Professor Christopher Gillberg), and
 extracts 
from many other articles.
  
      Please feel free to e-mail me if you need further information.
  
                 Best wishes,
  
                          Adam Feinstein
-- 
Adam Feinstein
http://www.lookingupautism.org
OAC Update
Ontario Autism Coalition
Event Invitiation: Update
September 9, 2007
Please distribute to all lists.
This is an update with exact times of the events and contact information for the OAC Executive Members hosting the event at each riding.
The Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC) is declaring Saturday, September 15th 2007 as a Day of Action for Autism and is inviting you to join us at one of the several elected MPP riding offices in Ottawa, North Toronto, Toronto, Windsor, Essex, and Sarnia where events will be taking place throughout the day to bring awareness to the autism crisis in Ontario.
Each of us know the challenges we face in attempting to secure appropriate publicly funded programs and services for our children with autism. If we want this situation to change, we must be the change. Make an effort to join us at one of the riding offices listed below. Our message will be stronger when our voices unite. This is our opportunity to bring attention to the autism issues and this opportunity will only return four years from now in the next election campaign. Now is the time for action.
Let's believe that together we can make the necessary change for appropriate publicly funded autism programs and services in Ontario . Please join us at one of the following locations:

Ottawa


Premier Dalton McGuinty's office
1795 Kilborn Av
Ottawa ON K1H 6N1
Tel :613-736-9573
Fax :613-736-7374
dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Time: 11:00am to 1:00pm
Contact OAC Executive Member, Sam Yassine for more information:
613-841-3886
Sam_yassine@rogers.com

North Toronto


Greg Sorbara's office (Minister of Finance)
Unit AU8- 140 Woodbridge Ave
Woodbridge ON L4L 4K9
Tel :905-851-0440
Fax :905-851-0210
gsorbara.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Time: 1:00 - 3:00 PM
Contact OAC Executive Member, Sharon Gabison for more information:
647-892-4418
shar.gabison@utoronto.ca

Toronto

Kathleen Wynne's office (Minister of Education)
146 Laird Dr, Suite 101
Toronto ON M4G 3V7
Tel :416-425-6777
Fax :416-425-0350
kwynne.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Time: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Contact OAC Executive Member, Malcolm Stanley for more information:
416-275-3562
amstanley@rogers.com

Windsor


Sandra Pupatello's office (Minister of Economic Development and Trade)
1483 Ouellette Ave
Windsor ON N8X 1K1
Tel : 519-977-7191
Fax :519-977-7029
spupatello.mpp@liberal.ola.org
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Contact OAC Executive Member, Mary Beth Rocheleau for more information:
519-734-6387
grocheleau6@hotmail.com

Essex


Bruce Crozier (Deputy Speaker)
78 Talbot St N
Essex ON N8M 1A2
Tel :519-776-6420
Fax :519-776-5763
bcrozier.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Time: 1:00PM - 3:00PM
Contact OAC Executive Member, Mary Beth Rocheleau for more information:
519-734-6387
grocheleau6@hotmail.com

Sarnia


Caroline DiCocco (Minister of Culture)
4th Floor - 201 Front St. North
Sarnia ON N7T 7T9
Tel :519-337-0051
Fax :519-337-3246
cdicocco.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Time: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Contact OAC Executive Member, Dan Fentie for more information:
519-869-4198
autism@coolgoose.com
Nancy Morrison
NDP
ndpyorksimcoe@yahoo.ca

It was the kind of introduction to provincial politics a new candidate can only dream of.

Provincial NDP leader Howard Hampton and his high-profile wife, MPP Shelley Martel, joined a room full of supporters for Nancy Morrison’s nomination meeting earlier this year.

Mr. Hampton said Ms Morrison embodies the principles of the NDP.

“That’s why I’m so proud and pleased she has come forward as our candidate,” he said.

Now, Ms Morrison is on the campaign trail hoping to pay back Mr. Hampton’s endorsement with a big win in the York-Simcoe riding.

She’ll also have federal candidate Sylvia Gerl on the stump.

Ms Morrison, 47, who lives in Bradford West Gwillimbury with husband Phil and their two children, said she is proud to carry the NDP banner.

She was originally introduced to politics through her advocacy work for children living with autism. Ms Morrison said she hopes to continue her work for children with autism once she is elected MPP.

Her community volunteerism includes offering training in autism awareness for EMS workers, volunteering at the Eaglewood Folk Festival in Pefferlaw, instructing smoking cessation for the lung association and was an executive member of a Big Sisters organization.
From a listmate
Fifteen things about me
This is a letter to your child's teacher. It will help your child adjust to a new classroom and make the teacher's life easy too. Download and print this free document now.
http://www.nlconcepts.com/autism-teacherletter.htm
Back to school offer
Conversation starters teach children to converse. Buy three and get the 4th one free! We can only offer this great deal for 10 more days and on a first come, first serve basis.
http://www.nlconcepts.com/
*We wish your child a successful year, surrounded by people who believe and who care!*
Natural Learning Concepts
http://www.nlconcepts.com
From a listmate
From the Ottawa Sun
September 8, 2007
Ontario leaders full of toxin
Tests on the three main party leaders show the number of toxins in their bodies is higher than the average person. Tory leads with the most pollutants, which are associated with cancer and other health problems, and Hampton follows closely, just in front
By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, SUN MEDIA QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
TORONTO -- Tests of Ontario 's Big Three political party leaders have revealed above-average pollutant levels.
On the eve of Ontario 's election campaign that begins Monday, the just-released tests show a toxic horse race of sorts between the Liberal, Conservative and NDP bosses.
Conservative Leader John Tory had the most pollutants in his blood, 44, followed closely by New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton at 42 and, at 41, by Premier Dalton McGuinty, the Liberal leader.
Carried out as part of a campaign by Toronto-based Environmental Defence, the tests show the three men have more toxins in their bodies and higher pollution levels than the average person.
The 46 different substances found in the trio are associated with cancer, developmental problems, respiratory illness, damage to the nervous system and hormone disruption.
McGuinty said he has "no idea" why he tested highest for organophosphate insecticide metabolites, used on fruits and vegetables, lawns and as mosquito and pest control.
"I think what it means is that we're all affected," the premier said.
"There's something going on here which is not good for our health."
McGuinty said he volunteered for the test to help raise awareness of the toxins everyone has in their blood, even people outside urban centres.
"I'm confident, based on discussions I've had, that people living in northern Ontario -- who think the air would be pristine and subject to far fewer smog days -- also have toxins in their blood," McGuinty said.
Environmental Defence released the test results to determine the leaders' exposure to potentially dangerous toxins found in the environment and everyday products.
The group, which has run similar tests on federal leaders, hopes to focus attention on the effect of environmental toxins on human health.
All three Ontario leaders showed more toxicity than families who took part in the group's Polluted Children, Toxic Nation study.
Tory scored tops in PCBs, PFCs and organochlorine pesticides.
Hampton tested highest for phthalates.
McGuinty's sample found pollutants including the highest level of organophosphate insecticide metabolites.
Bisphenol A, a hormone disrupter under review by the federal government and found in hard plastic bottles and tin- can linings, was highest in Hampton and McGuinty.
Meanwhile, all three parties are ramping up for what's promising to be a close and nasty campaign.
Disagreements have broken out as Liberal campaign staff try to videotape Hampton at his events, raising NDP fears he's being targeted for negative ads or YouTube spots.
The NDP released its own new TV ads yesterday, focusing on "broken" Liberal vows in areas such as autism and taxes.
" Dalton was hoping his record wouldn't stick to him. You can tell him he's wrong. Don't get mad. Get Orange . Howard Hampton and Ontario 's NDP," the ads say.
The Liberals issued an accounting of their election promises in which they acknowledge they didn't meet commitments on taxes and closing coal-fired power plants, but say they've implemented the vast majority of their 231 promises from 2003.
Autism the Musical
Autism Speaks, In the News, Autism the Musical Screens Nationwide
http://www.autismthemusical.com/
from a listmate
This was written by David Thompson on his group on 'Facebook'.
Just to clarify what was presented to the Trustees regarding the additional funding.

The Govt has announced additional $2,154,776 for the 2007 school year.This funding may continue for 2008/09 school year if the present government is re-elected.

The Govt has said that we can spend the new monies anyway we feel fit except for the following: $101,322 for Primary Class sizes and $600k for transportation which is to be paid directly to the bus companies. We have created a surplus in this envelope so there is a question of whether we still get this amount or how to spend it.

At our Information Session of August 28, the following options were presented to the trustees:

Option 1- Spend the $600k on transportation
$102k on Primary Class size
$1.4 million and bring back as many positions as possible for this amount which equate to about 32.7 staff which includes EA's, Child Development Councilors, Principal-elementary, VP Secondary. Secretaries in both Elementary and secondary and custodial staff.

Option 2
spend $600k on transportation
$102k on primary class size
$1.4 million into reserves

Option 3 $600 k on transportation
$102k on Primary class sizes
$800 K into reserves
$600k and bring back a many staff as possible
These are the three options presented to the trustees but our options are not limited to these three...and this is where trustees can make our own decisions.

These new monies will not bring back all effected education staff but it will assist.

Hopefully this clarifies some miss information.
From a listmate, excerpts
5 Ways
Dalton let kids with
autism down
1. Broke his promise to
provide autism services for
every child who needs them
2. Gave lawyers $2.4 million
to fight parents in court so
he could break his promise
3. ...then took Shelly Martell
to court to try and hide
how much he was paying
lawyers
4. There were 89 kids
on the waiting list for
autism services when the
McGuinty Liberals took
office - now there are 1,100
5. Forced parents like the
Aslanbogas to sell their
home to pay the $5,000-
a-month bill for their son’s
autism services
Our campaign was the first out of the
gates yesterday and we were able
to tell Ontarians what this election is
about – delivering a fair deal for today’s
working families.
Today, we’re going to talk about who
this election is about. It’s about working
families who have been betrayed by
McGuinty and who are suffering as
result of his broken promises, like
children with autism and their families.
While McGuinty saw fit to give himself a
$40,000 raise and millions of slush fund
dollars to Liberal insiders, he broke his
promise to deliver services to children
with autism. McGuinty gave lawyers
$2.4 million to fight parents in court so
he could break his promise. He even
took my wife Shelley Martel to court to
hide how much public money he wasted
fighting the parents in court.
That’s someone who will do or say
anything to win votes but won’t keep his
promises after the election. McGuinty
Liberals have disgraced themselves by
breaking their promises to Ontario ’s
most vulnerable citizens and their
families.
Let’s keep working over the next 29
days to make sure we elect more NDP
MPPs to stand up for working families
and to stand up for the children Dalton
McGuinty has turned his back on.
Howard Hampton
Leader, Ontario ’s NDP
Orange
PRESS
E-29 • Tuesday 11 September 2007
Orange
PRESS
A message from Howard
DAILY PULP
Howard Hampton by far
has the most aggressive
campaign going.
Alex Pierson,
Global TV,
September 10, 2007
Give us a sign
Need signs? Canvassing empty handed? What are you waiting for? Contact your lovely and talented regional
comunications officer.
You’re on the air
The campaign website is live - you can find your candidate on the “team” page. Let us know if we’re missing any
info from your campaign and we’ll make sure your page is up to date.
Don’t forget
As of today nominations are now officially open. All you need to do is get your forms from
www.electionsontario.on.ca, make a date with your returning officer to meet in person, collect 50
signatures from voters in your riding – just in case (officially you only need 25), get a $200 certified cheque,
money order or cash for your deposit and you coud be the first in your riding to be nominated. Sweet.
Wanna see dalton’s record stick?
If you haven’t caught the NDP’s ads on your TV, go to www.ontariondp.com and click on the stickies.
PEELIN’ DOWN THE ROAD
Kicking off the 2007 provincial election campaign this morning in front of Queen’s Park, Howard Hampton
outlined the campaign for the coming weeks.
“This campaign is about Ontario ’s hard-working families and who they can count on to stand up for a fair deal.
It’s about making sure Dalton McGuinty’s record sticks to him. No more $40,000 MPP pay hikes when working
families are struggling to make ends meet. No more multi-million dollar slush funds and payoffs for McGuinty’s
friends when thousands are losing their jobs. No more broken promises,” said Hampton .
“Our campaign will focus on practical ideas that will make life more affordable for everyday families, a fair day’s
pay for a hard day’s work, a cleaner, healthier environment, removing barriers to university, college and training,
and making sure all kids, including kids with autism, get the education and support they deserve.”
After launching the campaign in Toronto , Howard was the first leader to visit Hamilton , where he was joined
by Hamilton Centre MPP Andrea Andrea Horwath and candidates Juanita Maldonado (Ancaster- Dundas -
Flamborough-Westdale), Paul Miller ( Hamilton East – Stoney Creek), Bryan Adamczyk ( Hamilton Mountain ),
and Anthony Crawford ( Oakville ).
“Hamiltonians deserve fairness – and they can depend on the NDP to deliver,” said Hampton . “The McGuinty
Liberals have done nothing to solve the province’s manufacturing crisis and help working families keep goodpaying
jobs.”
Howard ended the day back in Toronto with Cheri DiNovo and other Toronto-area candidates in the riding
of Parkdale – High Park . It’s been almost a year to the day since DiNovo beat the Liberal candidate in a byelection.
New Democrats from across the GTA joined Howard at the same venue where Cheri celebrated last
year’s victory.
“We took a Liberal stronghold here last year – in this campaign, we’re going to take many more,” said Hampton .
Authorized by the CFO for the Ontario New Democratic Party
September 11, 2007
Hampton challenges McGuinty betrayals of working families
Richmond Hill – NDP Leader Howard Hampton says this election gives Ontarians the chance to choose between McGuinty Liberal betrayals and the NDP’s plan for a fair deal for today’s working families.
“Dalton McGuinty’s priorities are wrong. He put himself and his friends ahead of working families,” Hampton said while speaking at Leaps and Bounds, a centre that provides treatment for children with autism.
“Mr. McGuinty gave himself a $40,000 raise and handed out millions of slush fund dollars to his friends. But he broke promises to working families, like children with autism and their families. He denied them services he said he would deliver. That’s someone who will do or say anything to win your vote but won’t keep his promises after the election,” the NDP Leader said.
Joining Hampton at today’s press conference was NDP York Simcoe Candidate Nancy Morrison. Her son has autism. During the last election, McGuinty wrote Morrison a letter that promised autism services for every child who needs them. But after the election, McGuinty broke that promise. He even gave lawyers $2.4 million to fight parents in court so he could break his promise.
As of March 31, 2007, 1,100 children were languishing on waiting lists for autism services. That's an increase of 1,200 per cent from when the McGuinty Liberals took office. That includes Burak Aslanboga. His parents Cemil and Nazile Aslanboga had to sell their home because that’s the only way they could raise the money they need to pay the $5,000-a-month bill for their son’s autism services. Hampton says that’s unacceptable – and a clear sign that McGuinty is out of touch with working families.
“McGuinty Liberals have disgraced themselves by breaking their promises to Ontario ’s most vulnerable citizens and their families. You can’t count on Liberals,” Hampton said. “Ontarians want a provincial government that puts people first, that guarantees opportunities for all our young people, including children with autism. To make that happen, Ontario needs more NDP MPPs standing up for working families.”
– 30 –
Media Inquiries: Jon Weier (416) 591-5455 x290 / Kaj Hasselriis x 271
the Star
Autistic kids let down, Hampton charges TheStar.com - News - Autistic kids let down, Hampton charges
September 11, 2007
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau

If every Ontario resident put $7.50 into Sharon Gabison's fishbowl, the waiting list for services for autistic children could be eliminated, she says.
Gabison and other parents of autistic children were at a press conference in Richmond Hill this morning in support of NDP Leader Howard Hampton.
Hampton had no problem putting his $7.50 in Gabison's bowl but he wasn't willing to say exactly what his party would do for autistic children if elected.
Parents will have to wait "a couple of days" to hear his plans, he said.
But he did have plenty to say about how badly the Liberals have handled the autism file, starting with breaking a 2003 election promise to provide intensive autism therapy to kids who need it regardless of age.
The "McGuinty Liberals have disgraced themselves by breaking their promise to Ontario 's most vulnerable citizens and their families," Hampton said.
More than 1,000 children are on the list for Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) in Ontario , which can cost more than $50,000 annually per child.
During the 2003 election campaign, McGuinty promised to end the previous Conservative government's "unfair and discriminatory" practice of cutting off IBI funding when children turned 6. But he then delayed doing it and continued to fight parents in an existing messy court case.
The government spent $2.4 million — enough to provide treatment to 50 children — on legal bills fighting parents in court, Hampton said.
Even though the Liberals have doubled annual funding for autism over the past two years to $115 million, the issue of the broken promise has dogged them and many parents of autistic children have gotten involved with other parties.
Nancy Morrison - who received the promise letter from McGuinty in the last election — is now the NDP candidate in York Simcoe.
Parents will like what they hear from Hampton on autism, she said.

Autistic children have been betrayed, says NDP

JEFF GRAY
Globe and Mail Update
September 11, 2007 at 12:45 PM EDT
RICHMOND HILL, Ont. — Dalton McGuinty has betrayed children with autism, NDP Leader Howard Hampton charged Tuesday morning at a campaign stop flanked by parents of children with the condition.
But Mr. Hampton refused to outline or cost out his proposals to help autistic children, saying the details would be revealed in the coming days.
Mr. Hampton opened his second day of campaigning at a centre that offers programs for autistic children north of Toronto, and read from a letter Mr. McGuinty wrote to an autistic child's parent — Nancy Morrison, now an NDP candidate in York-Simcoe — in which the Liberal Leader promised before winning the 2003 election to extend funding for treatment for children over the age of six.
“After the election, what we saw from Dalton McGuinty was a complete about face,” Mr. Hampton said, saying that the Liberals not only broke their promise but spent $2.4-million — an amount the government tried to keep secret — fighting the parents of autistic children in court.
The province's fight with parents of autistic children began in April, 2003, when 29 families sued the then Progressive Conservative government for denying their autistic children special therapy after age six.
Despite his campaign promise, Mr. McGuinty did not increase funding for autism treatment until mid 2005, after the courts ruled that the province was violating the children's constitutional rights by denying them treatment. The province then successfully appealed that ruling last year.
The Liberals hit back on Tuesday, with campaign chair Greg Sorbara saying Mr. Hampton and the NDP were putting politics ahead of principle.
“The McGuinty Liberals ended the unfair age cutoff, more than tripled investments for children with autism and more than doubled the number of kids receiving IBI therapy. The NDP voted against those investments,” Mr. Sorbara said in a press release.
“It's beyond cynical to use these families as the NDP have.”
Mr. Hampton and his wife, MPP Shelley Martel have raised the autism issue repeatedly in recent years, and the NDP campaign has drawn a number of advocates for children with autism, including Ms. Morrison. “He let us all down,” said Ms. Morrison, 48.
She said her fight for treatment for her eight-year-old son, Sean, drove her into politics. While she wouldn't say what the NDP would promise to do for parents like her, she said she was confident the party's platform would address her concerns.
Treatment for autism, which can severely impair a child's ability to communicate, can cost as much as $5,000 a month without government help, and the NDP says that as of March of this year, 1,100 children were on a waiting list for autism treatment, an increase of 1,200 per cent over the Liberals' term.
At Tuesday's press conference, in a basement gymnasium decorated with animal murals and with a toddler-sized tricycle in the corner, Mr. Hampton was joined by Nazile Aslanboga and her husband Cemil, a couple who said they had to their sell their home in Toronto west end and move to an apartment in Etobicoke to afford treatment for their 11-year-old autistic son, Burak.
Ms. Aslanboga said her son, one of three children with a fourth on the way, had to wait two years for treatment, but then lost access to it when he turned six. She said new alternative therapies were starting to help him.
“His seizures get less [frequent] and he's less aggressive with his sisters, and his behaviour gets better,” she told reporters in halting English.
She was going to bring her son to the press conference, but a seizure prevented him from attending, an NDP official said.
Questioned repeatedly, Mr. Hampton said he would lay out the NDP's detailed plans on autism funding and other issues in the next few days.
Mr. Hampton's campaign tour was to head Sudbury and Thunder Bay for the rest of the day, to attend events with local NDP candidates.
Google alert

Autistic children ignored by McGuinty: Hampton

Dalson Chen, Windsor Star

Published: Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Provincial New Democrat leader Howard Hampton held a press conference Tuesday morning to hammer the McGuinty government for its "trail of deception" regarding services for children with autism.
But Hampton remained vague about the Ontario NDP's own financial plans for helping the needy group.
"We'll be laying out exactly how we're going to approach this issue in some detail in a couple days," Hampton said. "I'll be happy to lay it out in a couple days. Along with some other educational services that are interlinked and interwoven."
Pressed for hard figures, Hampton replied: "This is a 30-day election campaign, and in the next couple of days, we'll be laying out a detailed plan on the kinds of fiscal arrangements that need to be made to pay for these services. For right now, this is about who the election is about."
Hampton made the comments at a Richmond Hill centre for children with autism and special needs called Leaps and Bounds.
Flanked by York-Simcoe NDP candidate Nancy Morrison and York South-Weston MPP Paul Ferreira, Hampton criticized Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty for allowing the list of children waiting for autism services to reach 1,100 names - 12 times higher than when the Liberals took office.
"This has been a terrible game by Dalton McGuinty and his government at the expense of some of the most vulnerable children in Ontario today," Hampton said.
Also standing with Hampton were Cemil and Nazile Aslanboga, a family of five whose eldest son has autism. The boy was unable to attend the press conference due to suffering a seizure.
According to Hampton , the Aslanbogas had to sell their Toronto home to cover the $5,000-per-month services required to help 11-year-old Burak.
"What we need is so expensive financially," said Nazile Aslanboga, Burak's mother.
Nazile - who emigrated from Turkey in 1992 - said the family now lives in a small apartment in Etobicoke. Her husband works in construction. She is currently pregnant with their fourth child.
According to Nazile, Burak has spent two years on a waiting list for the special treatment known as intensive behaviour intervention (IBI).
"It's very hard to live with a child with autism, especially when there's no help from the government," Nazile said.
In 2003, a group of families with autistic children took the McGuinty government to court for reneging on an election promise and not funding IBI treatment for kids over the age of six.
The case went to the Supreme Court, with the government eventually winning an appeal.
Although the McGuinty government has since eliminated the age cutoff, Hampton said the Ontario NDP has discovered - after much trouble - that it cost the government $2.4 million in legal fees to fight the families in court.
"We want to quantify that for you. $2.4 million would've provided IBI treatment for 50 children," Hampton said.
Morrison, herself a parent of an 8-year-old child with autism, said she decided to run for MPP because she wanted to hold Dalton McGuinty accountable for not fulfilling the promises he made in a personal letter he wrote to her.
Read aloud by Hampton at the press conference, the letter pledges to extend autism treatment, including IBI.
"That was before the election," Hampton said. "After the election, what we saw from Mr. McGuinty was a complete about-face. Instead of keeping the promises he made to Nancy Morrison ... Mr. McGuinty fought these parents and their children with every tactic at his disposal."
Despite Hampton 's lack of elaboration on how the Ontario NDP will serve children with autism better than the Liberals, Morrison said she has full confidence in Hampton and the party.
"I have been in discussion with him about what they will be doing, and I want the party to be able to release their stuff when they choose to release it," Morrison said.
Asked how other parents with autistic children can trust the party when they don't know what's planned, Morrison replied: "They will know what the party plans to do in the next two days ... I am very reassured. I have no worries at all about what the platform will be with the NDP."

Google alert

Tories slam health tax as ‘granddaddy of broken promises'

SHAWN MCCARTHY and KAREN HOWLETT AND JEFF GRAY
Globe and Mail Update
September 11, 2007 at 5:10 PM EDT
OTTAWA and RICHMOND HILL , Ont. —
Labelling it "the granddaddy of all broken promises," Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory today slammed Dalton McGuinty's decision to impose a $2.6-billion tax increase after signing a pledge in the 2003 campaign not to raise taxes.
Speaking on the fourth anniversary of the Ontario Liberal Leader's pledge, and the second day of the Ontario election campaign, Mr. Tory made Liberal broken promises the centrepiece of his strategy, arguing that voters cannot trust that Mr. McGuinty will keep his commitments this time.
"Mr. McGuinty not only broke his promise not to raise taxes. He shattered it beyond all recognition," the Conservative Leader said.
"He waited less than a year before ramming his new tax through the legislature. ... It was the largest new tax burden ever imposed on Ontarians."
Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty talks to the media in a classroom at Charles Hulse Public School on the as he starts his election campaign in Ottawa on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007. (Fred Chartrand/CP Photo)
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Mr. McGuinty is shying away from such a stand this time, saying on Tuesday that he has no intention of signing his name to another document promising not to raise taxes.
Four years ago today, Mr. McGuinty signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge during the 2003 election campaign. He broke that pledge the following year by introducing the annual $2.6-billion health premium, the single-largest tax increase in the province's history.
Mr. McGuinty is once again promising not to increase taxes as he seeks to win a second term. This time, however, he will not put it in writing, he said in response to questions from reporters.
"I've been in politics for 17 years," he said. "The toughest decision I ever had to make in my life was to ask Ontarians to invest more in their health-care system."
Ontarians can now take comfort that there will be no more hidden deficits, because the provincial Auditor-General has vetted the province's books, he said.
The campaign for the Oct. 10 provincial election is only in its second day, but it is clear that broken promises are haunting Mr. McGuinty.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton also started his day by accusing Mr. McGuinty of betraying children with autism by breaking promises to extend treatment for children older than six.
Mr. Hampton opened his second day of campaigning at a York Region centre for autistic children, where he read from a 2003 letter from Mr. McGuinty to an autistic child's parent — Nancy Morrison, now an NDP candidate in York-Simcoe — in which he promised to extend the funding.
"After the election, what we saw from Dalton McGuinty was a complete about-face," Mr. Hampton said.
Mr. Hampton said the Liberals not only broke their promise but spent $2.4-million — an amount that the government tried to keep secret — fighting the parents of autistic children in court.
Mr. McGuinty did not fund treatment for children over six for autism treatment until mid-2005 after the courts ruled that the province was violating the children's constitutional rights by denying them treatment. The province then successfully appealed that ruling last year.
But Mr. Hampton refused to outline or cost out his proposals to help autistic children, saying the details would be revealed in the coming days.
Mr. Tory was also under close scrutiny, though, receiving lukewarm support for his proposal to extend funding to religious schools from a partisan business audience in Oakville , west of Toronto .
He admitted the idea isn't "universally popular," but he vowed to continue defending the policy in the face of Liberal attacks and waning support from party supporters.
The Conservatives' proposal to build more nuclear plants and put scrubbers on Ontario 's coal plants isn't "universally popular" either, Mr. Tory said.
But — like the plan to extend funding to private religious schools who opt into the public system — Mr. Tory said he's not backing down.
"I understand that our commitment to expand public education is not universally popular but for me, it's a matter of inclusiveness," he said.
The audience seemed less convinced. While the partisan crowd of about 150 enthusiastically applauded Tory's vow to lower taxes, some notably kept their hands in their lap when Tory talked about funding religious schools while others clapped politely.
From NDP Provincial Candidate Nancy Morrison, York Simcoe Riding:
POLITICS BEFORE PRINCIPLE™: A McGuinty Trademark
NDP Candidate Nancy Morrison, the woman to whom Dalton McGuinty directly promised IBI autism services for her son, says "politics before principle" should be a McGuinty trademark.
"If there’s anyone who knows politics before principle, it’s Dalton McGuinty", said Morrison. "It’s beyond cynical to suggest somehow that the McGuinty Liberals – who have done nothing but fight families of children with autism every step of the way – are somehow the antidote to threats to autism services. They are the threat," said the York Simcoe candidate. "Dalton McGuinty will say anything and do anything to get elected. I’m running for politics to step up my advocacy and show Ontario ’s hardworking families can stand up for ourselves, our communities, and our children."
On September 17, 2003 Dalton McGuinty wrote to Morrison personally and made this promise: "I believe that the lack of government-funded Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) treatment for autistic children over six is unfair and discriminatory. The Ontario Liberals support extending autism treatment beyond the age of six."
He broke that promise. Then he wasted $2.4 million fighting families of children with autism in court instead of providing the services they need.
Nancy Morrison’s family has mortgaged their home four times in order to pay for the IBI therapy her son Sean requires to help overcome the challenges of living with autism. It’s just not fair.
As a direct result of McGuinty’s promise and the hard work of the NDP to ensure children with autism are no longer ignored, Morrison decided to run for politics: for the NDP.
- 30 -
Media Inquiries: Jon Weier (416) 591-5455 x 290
From a listmate

Autism Advocacy - Parents Tossed by Autism Ontario

The message from the Supreme Court of Canada in the Auton and Deskin-Wynberg cases was clear - the courts, and the Canadian Constitution, are of little assistance to families seeking to help ensure their autistic children get treatment or a real education. It is absolutely necessary that autism advocates Get Political. In Ontario Dan and Susan Fentie have been doing exactly that. And for their efforts they have been tossed by their local chapter of Autism Ontario . The Fenties indicate that the local autism charity fears losing its charitable tax exempt status.

I have no personal knowledge of the Fenties' situation in Sarnia , Ontario but here in New Brunswick the Autism Society of New Brunswick has been cautioned in the past that it could lose its tax exempt status if it was too political. The ASNB has been more political than most Autism Societies in Canada . And the ASNB received a warning, not directly from government or a government agency, but from a former executive officer of the Autism Society of Canada, that it risked losing tax exempt status because of its advocacy efforts.

Why do autism societies and organizations exist if it is not to advocate on behalf of persons with autism and their famlies? If autism organizations are more concerned about their tax charitable status than advocating forcefully for autistic persons then they have no reason to exist. Our priorities should always lie with our autistic loved ones and we should be prepared to fight on their behalf.



A local couple who helped put autism on the political agenda in Ontario has been forced to resign from the local Autism Ontario chapter, The Observer has learned.

Dan and Susan Fentie resigned last week after the local agency's board asked Susan Fentie to step down for criticizing the Liberal government.

In a July 19 story in The Observer, Fentie said the government should be ashamed for spending $2.4 million fighting a lengthy court battle with parents seeking treatment for autistic children.

Susan Fentie said she was disappointed but refused to criticize the board.

They're good people put in a very bad position, she said.

Dan Fentie, who resigned along with his wife from the five-seat board, said it's under pressure from both head office in Toronto and the government to conform.

He said the charity fears losing its tax exempt status and future funding if members speak out against government policy. The local chapter already missed out on money awarded to six other Autism Ontario chapters for offices and local co-ordinators, he said.

We were told (by Autism Ontario ) the reason we weren't picked was because we wouldn't carry their message. What message? We thought this was about fighting for families.

Susan Fentie said the local board was increasingly uncomfortable with the couple's outspoken advocating style. The relationship was further strained when she announced her intention to seek the local Progressive Conservative nomination in the October provincial election. Fentie lost the nomination but remains a party member and actively works with party leader John Tory.


Tricia Edgar, a spokesperson for Child and Youth Services Minister Mary Anne Chambers, denied the government sought the Fenties' removal. Chambers is on a first-name basis with the couple, she said.

We've had folks at our announcements that had been suing the government, Edgar said. The Minister has met with them . . . There is absolutely no such pressure from the government.

The Fenties also helped found a group called the Ontario Autism Coalition, which has lobbied the government and staged rallies to increase services and spending on autism.

Ian Naylor, board president of Autism Ontario Sarnia-Lambton, denied the provincial government or head office had anything to do with the request for Susan Fentie's resignation.

The chapter has to remain neutral when it comes to the government, Naylor said. Susan and Dan belong to the Autism Coalition, and they have a great function, but we as a board felt the two (groups) could not be together.

http://www.theobserver.ca/
Google alert
Hampton hammers McGuinty over treatment of autistic children
Dalson Chen
CanWest News Service

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
RICHMOND HILL , Ont. - New Democratic Partly Leader Howard Hampton hammered the McGuinty government on Tuesday for its "trail of deception" regarding services for children with autism.
But Hampton remained vague about the Ontario NDP's own financial plans for helping the needy group.
"We'll be laying out exactly how we're going to approach this issue in some detail in a couple days," Hampton said. "I'll be happy to lay it out in a couple days. Along with some other educational services that are interlinked and interwoven."
Pressed for hard figures, Hampton replied:
"This is a 30-day election campaign, and in the next couple of days, we'll be laying out a detailed plan on the kinds of fiscal arrangements that need to be made to pay for these services. For right now, this is about who the election is about."
Ontario voters head to the polls on Oct. 10.
Hampton made the comments at a Richmond Hill , Ont. centre for children with autism and special needs called Leaps and Bounds.
Flanked by area NDP candidates Nancy Morrison and MPP Paul Ferreira, Hampton criticized Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty for allowing the list of children waiting for autism services to reach 1,100 names - 12 times higher than when the Liberals took office.
"This has been a terrible game ... by Dalton McGuinty and his government at the expense of some of the most vulnerable children in Ontario today," Hampton said.
Also with Hampton were Cemil and Nazile Aslanboga, a family of five whose eldest son has autism.
According to Hampton , the Aslanbogas had to sell their Toronto home to cover the $5,000-per-month services required to help 11-year-old Burak.
The parents of autistic children took the McGuinty government to court in 2003 over a broken election promise to fund what is known as intensive behaviour intervention (IBI) for autistic children over six years of age. They won that initial decision, but the province appealed, arguing the intensive one-on-one process works best for children under age six and that other forms of treatment work better for older children.
In July 2006, the government won the appeal, and earlier this year the Supreme Court of Canada announced it would not hear their appeal case.
Although the McGuinty government has since eliminated the age cutoff, Hampton said the Ontario NDP has discovered - after much trouble - that it cost the government $2.4 million in legal fees to fight the families in court.
"We want to quantify that for you. $2.4 million would've provided IBI treatment for 50 children," Hampton said.
Also on Tuesday Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory commemorated the fourth anniversary of McGuinty's ill-fated promise not to raise taxes if elected.
On Sept. 11, 2003, McGuinty signed a pledge drafted by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) stating he would "not raise taxes or implement new taxes without the explicit consent of Ontario voters." After he was elected, his Liberal government introduced the Ontario health premium, which costs middle-class residents an average of $750 annually.
"Dalton McGuinty not only broke his promise not to raise taxes, he shattered it beyond recognition," Tory said on Tuesday a joint press conference with the CTF. "He waited less than a year before ramming his tax through the legislature."
The Conservatives have promised to repeal the health tax if elected.
Tory continued his line-of-attack over lunch in Oakville , telling a business crowd at a suburban motel that McGuinty "did more than break a promise. He broke faith with the people of Ontario ."
With the official election campaign only two days old, it is clear Tory intends to make the health tax the hallmark issue of his campaign.
Tory casts himself as a man willing to make difficult decisions and keep promises, regardless of the political consequences.
"A real leader makes decisions even if they are not universally popular," Tory said.
He also acknowledged the Conservatives' promises to build more nuclear plants and extend funding to faith-based schools will not be supported by all voters.
However, he said he believes in his "heart" that they are the right things to do.
The premier spent his first morning of the provincial election campaign on Tuesday in Ottawa , where he pledged online homework help for students.
McGuinty said he'll expand the Ask a Teacher program by two hours each day and add online help on Fridays at a cost of $25 million per year.
The change is part of a $66 million package announced on Tuesday at Charles H. Hulse elementary school in McGuinty's Ottawa South riding.
"Now is the time to build on the progress we've already achieved for Ontario 's students and move our schools forward - not go backwards," McGuinty said in a statement.
McGuinty also slammed a Conservative pledge to limit homework to about 10 minutes per grade. He called it an "artificial cap."
"It's a tough world out there," he told reporters. "I think it's a mistake to shelter our children from some of those challenges associated with that world."
Canada.com
From a listmate

Globe

Liberals, Tories aim for weak spots as campaign nears

MARIA BABBAGE
Canadian Press
September 8, 2007 at 8:42 PM EDT
TORONTO — The Liberals and Tories took aim at each other's Achilles heel Saturday, cementing Ontario's controversial health-care tax and public funding for religious schools as dominant issues leading up to an election campaign that won't officially begin until Monday.
Ontario's governing Liberals attacked the Conservatives' plan to bring religious schools into the public system, saying it would cost far more than the $400-million Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory has suggested.
Mr. Tory, meanwhile, took another stab at the province's health-care “premium,” a sore spot for the Liberals who broke an election promise when they imposed the tax in 2004.
Deputy premier George Smitherman launched the Liberal offensive with a pre-emptive strike, summoning reporters to the diverse Toronto neighbourhood of St. James Town to blast Mr. Tory's plan to fund religious schools, just one hour before Mr. Tory was set to speak at an east-end hospital about health care.
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Ontario Liberals and Tories take aim at each other's Achilles heel
Mr. Tory recently got into hot water by musing that such public religious schools could teach creationism as well as the theory of evolution, drawing fire from the Liberals and support from some religious groups.
If elected Oct. 10, Mr. Tory promised to give $400-million in public money to religious schools if they opt into the public system, hire accredited teachers, teach the Ontario curriculum and administer standardized tests.
But providing funding for the 53,000 students attending private religious schools in Ontario would cost at least $500-million and divert crucial taxpayer dollars from students in the public system, Mr. Smitherman said.
“We don't think it's fair to divert attention from the core responsibilities for those two million kids in Ontario in favour of a policy that encourages people to divide up on religious and ethno-cultural bounds,” he said, echoing the comments of many of his cabinet colleagues.
However, the Liberals have maintained their support for public Catholic schools while panning Mr. Tory's plan, a stand some groups have criticized as favouring one faith over others.
The government's obligation is to ensure that the current and long-established public education system works well before diverting money away from its students, Mr. Smitherman said.
He also rejected Conservative claims that several prominent Liberals, including Premier Dalton McGuinty, had previously supported the idea of providing funding to faith-based schools.
“I'd never, I'm quite sure, done that,” he said. “That'll be another example where they'll say anything and don't think it through.”
The health minister would have better used his time talking to voters about their problems with the province's health-care system, countered Mr. Tory, who used the hospital tour to launch another plank of his election platform and slam Mr. McGuinty on the health tax.
“I look more to what people have been telling me at the door and on the streets,” he said.
“They've been coming up to me and telling me their stories about Dalton McGuinty and their inability to find someone to look after their health ailments, their children with autism that are getting no treatment ... the fact that they're paying a health tax today they were promised they would never have to pay.”
In the four years since the Liberals came to power, Mr. McGuinty has failed to make significant progress in addressing the shortage of family doctors or seniors left in sub-standard long-term care facilities, even after imposing the tax, Mr. Tory said.
The tax requires every eligible taxpayer in the province to pay as much as $900 more a year — worth $2.6-billion annually to Ontario 's health-care coffers.
Mr. Tory, who plans to phase out the tax, says he'd boost health-care funding by $8.5-billion over the next four years, including $540-million to support the implementation of electronic health records — widely seen as key in improving wait times — and $400-million to recruit and retain doctors and nurses.
The money would come in part from projected growth in government revenues and by cutting down on government waste, he said.
Mr. McGuinty said earlier this week that the Liberal platform is focused on education and health care, his two top priorities, and that the province can't afford to eliminate the health “premium” imposed in 2004 despite a promised tax freeze.
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Star
Autistic kids let down, Hampton charges
Sep 11, 2007 12:14 PM
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau
If every Ontario resident put $7.50 into Sharon Gabison's fishbowl, the waiting list for services for autistic children could be eliminated, she says.
Gabison and other parents of autistic children were at a press conference in Richmond Hill this morning in support of NDP Leader Howard Hampton.
Hampton had no problem putting his $7.50 in Gabison's bowl but he wasn't willing to say exactly what his party would do for autistic children if elected.
Parents will have to wait "a couple of days" to hear his plans, he said.
But he did have plenty to say about how badly the Liberals have handled the autism file, starting with breaking a 2003 election promise to provide intensive autism therapy to kids who need it regardless of age.
The "McGuinty Liberals have disgraced themselves by breaking their promise to Ontario 's most vulnerable citizens and their families," Hampton said.
More than 1,000 children are on the list for Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) in Ontario , which can cost more than $50,000 annually per child.
During the 2003 election campaign, McGuinty promised to end the previous Conservative government's "unfair and discriminatory" practice of cutting off IBI funding when children turned 6. But he then delayed doing it and continued to fight parents in an existing messy court case.
The government spent $2.4 million — enough to provide treatment to 50 children — on legal bills fighting parents in court, Hampton said.
Even though the Liberals have doubled annual funding for autism over the past two years to $115 million, the issue of the broken promise has dogged them and many parents of autistic children have gotten involved with other parties.
Nancy Morrison - who received the promise letter from McGuinty in the last election — is now the NDP candidate in York Simcoe.
Parents will like what they hear from Hampton on autism, she said.
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Star PM
Hampton slams Liberals
Sep 11, 2007 03:41 PM
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau
If every Ontarian put $7.50 into Sharon Gabison's fishbowl, the waiting list for services for autistic children could be eliminated, she says.
Gabison and other parents of autistic children were at a press conference with NDP Leader Howard Hampton in Richmond Hill this morning and Hampton had no problem putting his $7.50 in Gabison's bowl, but he wasn't willing to say exactly what his party would do for autistic children if elected.
But he did have plenty to say about how badly the Liberals have handled the autism file.
"McGuinty Liberals have disgraced themselves by breaking their promise to Ontario 's most vulnerable citizens and their families," Hampton said.
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Windsor Star

Kids' centre gets $2.8M

As election looms, province allots money for expansion

Grace Macaluso, Windsor Star

Published: Friday, September 07, 2007
With an election call just days away, MPP Sandra Pupatello (Liberal -- Windsor West) announced Thursday an additional $2.8 million in funding for an estimated $16.8-million expansion of the John McGivney Children's Centre.
"This is more than a building project," Pupatello told a news conference at the Matchette Road facility. "This $2.8 million is about increasing the number of children and families who can access the quality treatment provided by the dedicated and talented staff at the John McGivney Centre."
The province had already committed $8 million to the project, bringing its total to $10.8 million.
View Larger ImageView Larger Image

'ADDITIONAL SUPPORT': Students Christina Bially, right, and Brayden O'Gorman, centre left, are joined by other children as they listen to resource teacher Anita Hayes, not shown, during a program at the John McGivney Centre. The children's centre will receive $2.8 million for its expansion.

Nick Brancaccio, Windsor Star
On Monday, Premier Dalton McGuinty is expected to call an Oct. 10 election, but Pupatello said the plan to provide additional funding had been in the works for several months.
The expansion was originally slated to cost $12 million.
"Once they got the go-ahead with the project when the $8 million (from the province) was announced, then the organization had to go through all of the machinations to develop the plans," she said.
55,000-SQUARE-FOOT EXPANSION
"While that was happening over the course of the last year it became very obvious that the amount was going to be far in excess of the fundraising component and the $8 million ... they needed more support and we'd been working for the last year to secure that."
The centre must raise another $6 million for the 55,000-square-foot expansion, which would to be ready for occupancy in 2009, said Stephen Payne, chairman of the fundraising committee.
Established by the Rotary Club in 1978, the centre is one of 20 children's treatment centres in Ontario and one of only three that provides comprehensive rehabilitation and integrated preschool and elementary school in one location.
It serves 150 clients and provides services to 2,100 children a year with conditions such as spina bifida, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and autism. There are about 345 children on the centre's waiting list, said Payne.
"The additional support will allow us to move forward and realize our vision to be the centre of hope, support and inspiration for children with disabilities and their families," said Arla Peters, president of the centre's board of directors.
© The Windsor Star 2007
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McGuinty no friend to autoworkers: Hampton

Dalson Chen, Windsor Star

Published: Tuesday, September 11, 2007
TORONTO - Dalton McGuinty has been bad for the auto sector, despite his endorsement by CAW leader Buzz Hargrove, according to Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton.
"Mr. Hargrove is entitled to his opinion, but the evidence is in. I was in Windsor last week -- 35,000 jobs destroyed in the auto sector," said Hampton on Monday morning in Toronto .
Hampton also pointed to GM layoffs in Oshawa . "It's pretty tough to argue that this government has been good for the auto sector when you see literally tens of thousands of auto sector jobs being lost ... almost on a weekly basis."
Hampton made the comments after delivering a speech to kick off the Ontario NDP's campaign bus tour leading up to the Oct. 10 election.
For the next 30 days, Hampton will visit communities across the province to drum up support for his "fair deal" for modest and middle-income families.
"That's what this election is all about," Hampton said. "A fair deal. Not more broken promises, not more disappointment."
In April, Hargrove pledged his support to the provincial Liberals, and told CAW members that "strategic voting" is necessary to prevent a majority Progressive Conservative government.
But standing before a bus emblazoned with the orange NDP logo, Hampton accused Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty of failing to deliver the positive change he promised in the 2003 election.
"What did he deliver? A $40,000 pay raise for himself. That was more important to him than increasing the minimum wage to $10 an hour, or helping children with autism."
According to Hampton , McGuinty has given multimillion-dollar payouts to his "Hydro executive" friends, but has only offered "a shrug and weak excuses" for laid off workers. "That's the record of the McGuinty government."
In his wide-ranging attack speech, Hampton criticized the Ontario Liberals on such issues as lost manufacturing jobs, struggling rural communities, "unfair" property taxes, hospital wait times, and "internationally trained doctors delivering pizzas instead of babies, while one million Ontarions can't find a family doctor."
Hampton predicted that the Ontario voting public won't be fooled again.
Later in the day during a stop in Hamilton , Hampton continued his attack.
"Dalton McGuinty will promise anything," scoffed Hampton .
"I understand he was even here the other day promising to help Hamilton get a NHL team. He must know something about (NHL Commissioner) Gary Bettman the rest of us don't know," said Hampton, a lifelong hockey enthusiast.
"You talk about something that's completely absurd. As I say, he will promise anything."
Hampton told members of the media and about 50 placard-carrying supporters that Hamiltonians "have gotten a raw deal from the McGuinty government.
"If there's a city in this province that represents working people -- people who work hard, people who pay their taxes, people who contribute to their community, people who are responsible -- this is it."
© The Windsor Star 2007
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Ottawa Citizen

Opposition leaders attack McGuinty's credibility

Lee Greenberg, CanWest News Service
OTTAWA — Ontario ’s opposition leaders maintained their attack on Dalton McGuinty’s credibility Tuesday — the same day the Liberal premier literally sidestepped the faith-based school’s issue by ignoring his Catholic alma mater in favour of a secular public school.
Asked about the decision, which comes during a campaign centred on the school funding issue, McGuinty downplayed his choice. “I’ve visited many Catholic schools during my (mandate),” he said in French, adding that the campaign “has just started.”

McGuinty recently called faith-based schools segregationist and suggested they could have a negative impact on social cohesion, despite being a product of a faith-based school himself.

In campaign stops around the Greater Toronto Area Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory hammered the premier over his ill-fated promise not to hike taxes if elected. NDP_Leader Howard Hampton also accused McGuinty of failing to help children with autism, while also challenging his counterparts to debate him on northern Ontario issues, in a northern Ontario community.

Proponents of religious school funding saw McGuinty’s choice on Tuesday to visit Charles H. Hulse Public School as significant.

The school is within spitting distance of McGuinty’s Catholic high school, St. Patrick’s.

“We note with interest that two doors down, there’s a Catholic school that is fully supported by the government of Ontario ,” Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress said.

“St. Patrick’s High school serves as a model of how we can integrate other faith based schools into our public education system.”

Farber and others have labelled McGuinty a hypocrite for excluding Catholic facilities from his attack on faith-based schools.
McGuinty, his wife Terri and the couple’s four kids all attended schools in the Catholic system. Terri still teaches part-time in a Catholic board.
His opponents complain the premier’s position focuses only on other religious schools and not those run by the Catholic board.

“He’s said in not so many words that the Catholic community can be trusted not to cause social unrest and not to be segregationist while all other faith communities cannot,” Farber last week.
Public school funding is a focal point for election interest in Ontario , where voters will go to the polls Oct. 10.
Ontario has long-funded only Catholic schools and none of any other religions, an arrangement that dates back to Confederation.

Tory reignited a long-simmering debate when he promised to extend full funding to all religious schools. The policy corrects what he believes is an unfair system.

McGuinty, who as opposition leader held much the same position as Tory but has since changed course, on Tuesday dismissed any thought of dismantling the current arrangement.

Tuesday also marked the fourth anniversary of McGuinty signing a pledge drafted by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) stating he would “not raise taxes or implement new taxes without the explicit consent of Ontario voters.”

After he was elected, his Liberal government introduced the Ontario health premium, which costs middle-class residents an average of $750 annually.

“Dalton McGuinty not only broke his promise not to raise taxes, he shattered it beyond any recognition,” Tory told reporters at a Toronto press conference on Tuesday morning.

Tory noted the Liberal leader also pledged not to run a deficit, but government did just that during their first two years in office.

“If you held a competition and invited all the best screenwriters, conspiracy theorists, filmmakers – everybody – and asked them to dream up the stereotypical scandal of a politician breaking his promises and eroding the public trust, you would be hard pressed to come up with something worse than the McGuinty health tax,” Tory said.

John Williamson, CTF president, on Monday presented Tory with a framed original copy of Mr. McGuinty’s pledge.

“I think a lot of people – our group included – have branded the premier a liar,” Williamson said.

Tory himself has refused to refer to his Liberal rival as a “liar,” instead saying McGuinty “broke many, many promises” and “failed to keep his word.”

But Liberals were quick to condemn Williamson’s choice of words. Greg Sorbara, the finance minister and liberal campaign’s chairman, said he was “saddened by the quality of the rhetoric.”

“When a party and a campaign go exclusively negative, it usually means they’re in a freefall,” Sorbara said in an interview.
But Tory remained focused on the health tax throughout the day, devoting a substantial portion of a speech to business people in Oakville to the same issue.
Tory’s message is being reinforced in attack ads the Conservatives began airing on Tuesday on television stations across the province.

Built around the theme “Promises made, promises broken,” the four 30-second ads focus on commitments McGuinty has failed to keep in relation to crime, the environment, taxes and the treatment of autistic children.

New Democratic Partly Leader Howard Hampton picked up on the issues of services for children with autism on Tuesday.

But Hampton remained vague about the Ontario NDP’s own financial plans for helping the needy group.

“We’ll be laying out exactly how we’re going to approach this issue in some detail in a couple days,” Hampton said. “I’ll be happy to lay it out in a couple days. Along with some other educational services that are interlinked and interwoven.”

Hampton made the comments at a Richmond Hill , Ont. centre for children with autism and special needs called Leaps and Bounds.

The parents of autistic children took the McGuinty government to court in 2003 over a broken election promise to fund what is known as intensive behaviour intervention (IBI) for autistic children over six years of age. They won that initial decision, but the province appealed, arguing the intensive one-on-one process works best for children under age six and that other forms of treatment work better for older children.

In July 2006, the government won the appeal, and earlier this year the Supreme Court of Canada announced it would not hear their appeal case.

Although the McGuinty government has since eliminated the age cutoff, Hampton said the Ontario NDP has discovered — after much trouble — that it cost the government $2.4 million in legal fees to fight the families in court.

“We want to quantify that for you. $2.4 million would’ve provided IBI treatment for 50 children,” said Hampton .

At a later campaign stop in Sudbury he challenged his counterparts to a debate on northern issues.
“Let’s give them a chance,” said Hampton standing outside the Club Age D’Or centre for seniors in Sudbury on Tuesday afternoon. “I’m going to continue to raise the issues of northern Ontario . If Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Tory aren’t up to it, I think what it indicates is they don’t take the challenges that Northern Ontario faces very seriously.”
Hampton, a native of the northwestern Ontario community of Fort Frances , said that throwing down the gauntlet was necessary due to the severity of the problems faced by northern Ontario such as doctor shortages, lack of long-term care, an inadequate level of children’s services, major job losses and the migration of workers elsewhere.
- with files from Dalson Chen ( Windsor Star) and James Cowan ( National Post)
©Ottawa Citizen 2007
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Vancouver Province

Money for religious schools an early issue in Ontario election

CanWest News Service

Published: Tuesday, September 11, 2007
TORONTO -- An already-stormy Ontario provincial election officially kicked off yesterday Premier Dalton McGuinty dropped the writ on what he called "one of the most important elections" in the province's history.
McGuinty signalled his intention to hammer his Conservative rival, John Tory, over Tory's plan to fund religious schools.
"Publicly funded education is at the heart of our agenda," McGuinty told reporters.
Tory has been on the campaign trail for a week, much of the time defending the proposal to extend public funding to Christian fundamentalist, Jewish, Muslim and other faith-based schools.
The Liberals, who held 67 seats in the legislature at dissolution, contend the plan would suck $400 million in funding from public schools.
Ontario fully funds Catholic schools, but none run by other religious groups.
Tory, whose Conservatives held 25 seats at Queen's Park, vowed to make "leadership" the central issue of the campaign, saying McGuinty has broken too many promises.
"You cannot lead if you have lost credibility, if trust has been broken," Tory said.
Tory was flanked by 45 black-and-white signs, each listing a promise supposedly broken by McGuinty's Liberals.
"Mr. McGuinty promised not to raise taxes and raised them," Tory said.
The Conservatives have promised if elected to eliminate the controversial Ontario health premium tax, which currently generates $2.6-billion a year.
The Conservatives have also promised to cut $1.5-billion in government spending, cap property-tax assessment increases at five per cent and move government jobs out of Toronto to communities that have lost jobs in the manufacturing sector.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton said dental care, municipalities, a freeze on tuition fees, global warming and green energy top his proposals.
"They're all about making life more affordable for hard-working modest and middle-income families," said Hampton .
Hampton also slammed McGuinty.
"What did he deliver? A $40,000 pay raise for himself. That was more important to him than increasing the minimum wage to $10 an hour, or helping children with autism," said Hampton .
Hampton, whose party has 10 seats in the legislature, also said working families would not find any comfort with Tory, alleging that the Conservatives seek "profit-driven, private hospitals" and "expensive, environmentally risky" nuclear plants.
Voters go to the polls on Oct. 10.
© The Vancouver Province 2007
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National Post

The election race is officially on in Ontario

CanWest News Service

Published: Monday, September 10, 2007
TORONTO - An already-testy provincial election got underway Monday with a warning from Premier Dalton McGuinty, who said if elected, his opponents would deplete public services and return the province to days of "conflict, cuts and division."
But McGuinty, whose Liberals held 67 seats in the legislature at dissolution, didn't apologize for breaking a now-famous pledge not to raise taxes.
"I was faced with a difficult choice. I made a decision," he said, referring to his government's $2.6 billion health tax, a levy Conservatives - who are lead by John Tory - call the biggest in the province's history.

Conservative party leader John Tory. (Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa Citizen)

"Mr. Tory says he disagrees with me. I know what he would have done - he would have closed still more hospitals."
The premier said voters will now have to decide on Oct. 10 if they are happy with the legacy of that broken promise, increased public-sector spending on things like teacher salaries and nurses.
Tory, whose Conservatives held 25 seats at Queen's Park, vowed on Monday to make "leadership" the central issue of the Ontario election campaign, saying McGuinty has broken too many promises. "You cannot lead if you have lost credibility, if trust has been broken," Tory told reporters minutes after the election officially began. "Keeping your promises matters."
Tory was flanked by 45 black-and-white signs, each listing a promise supposedly broken by McGuinty's Liberals.
While the promises ranged from blocking development on the Oak Ridges Moraine - a belt of rolling hills that runs north of Toronto eastward toward Peterborough - to diverting 60 per cent of municipal waste away from landfill to closing coal-fired power plants, the most important broken promise to the Conservative campaign is McGuinty's introduction of the Ontario health premium after he promised not to raise taxes.
"Mr. McGuinty promised not to raise taxes and raised them," Tory said. "I think he has mislead voters, I think he has been less than straightforward with voters and I think he will be held to account for that. It is going to be a major issue because people have the right to know that their leaders are going to tell them the truth."
The Conservatives have promised if elected to eliminate the controversial tax, which generates $2.6 billion in revenue annually.
The PCs have also pledged to cut $1.5 billion in government spending, cap property tax assessment increases at five per cent and move government jobs out of Toronto to communities that have lost jobs in the manufacturing sector.
McGuinty raised on Monday the spectre of former Conservative premier Mike Harris, who executed a radical agenda of tax and spending cuts. McGuinty said Tory offers voters "the same old failed Conservative approach - one that will take us backwards."
"He said he'd find $1.5 billion in efficiencies ... but he's not prepared to tell us where," McGuinty said. "Well, we've seen that movie before. They found efficiencies last time by closing hospitals, by firing nurses and by increasing wait times."
The two leaders have already tangled over Tory's plan to fund religious schools, a controversial issue that Liberals say will ghettoize minority communities.
Tory has already been on the campaign trail for a week visiting ridings in the Toronto area. And much of his time has been spent defending the proposal to extend public funding to Jewish, Muslim and other faith-based schools.
The Liberals contend the plan would suck $400 million in funding from public schools and are attempting to cast the election as a referendum on the future of Ontario 's education system.
McGuinty on Monday emphasized his party's support for public education. "Publicly funded education is at the heart of our agenda," he told reporters at Queen's Park. "Nothing is more important to building the society we want and the economy we need."
The faith-based school issue has quickly become a flashpoint in the provincial election, with McGuinty portraying himself as the defender of the public system. Not so long ago, however, McGuinty proposed much the same fix to what he saw as "inequities" in the current system.
Ontario fully funds Catholic schools and none run by other religious groups.
Asked Monday when he changed his position, McGuinty ducked the question: "People know what I ran on last time," he said.
McGuinty was formally nominated in his Ottawa South riding Monday night where he told a surprised crowd that his first stop would be to hospital where his mother, Elizabeth, was recouperating from emergency surgery after falling downstairs and breaking her hip.
"You know how I know she's doing fine? Because when I was talking to her earlier ... she said 'if you don't win the election you're out of the family," he joked. "(That) is so typical of my mom."
NDP_Leader Howard Hampton said Monday modest and middle-income families disappointed by the McGuinty government will get a "fair deal" with Ontario New Democrats.
"That's what this election is all about," said Hampton . "It's what they deserve. A fair deal. Not more broken promises, not more disappointment."
McGuinty later singled out Ontarians who were considering parking their vote with the New Democrats.
"Only one of two parties is going to win this election. And those who are considering voting for the NDP need to understand there's only one party that can form a government that can continue to invest in public services that will champion the needs of families," he said.
Elements of the NDP election platform include: dental care for those without coverage, help for farmers, support for municipalities, a freeze on tuition fees, environmental programs to fight global warming and encourage green energy, and a property tax assessment model that especially protects seniors and those on fixed incomes.
"These and other ideas, we will be discussing over the coming weeks. They're all about making life more affordable for hard-working modest and middle-income families," said Hampton, who later campaigned in Hamilton .
Questioned on how the NDP would pay for its platform, Hampton said a detailed fiscal plan will be laid out later this week.
"It will show how we intend to have a balanced budget, and pay for the proposals that we've outlined."
Hampton, who shares space at Queen's Park with nine other NDP_MPPs, also said working families would not find any comfort with Tory, alleging that the Progressive Conservatives seek "profit-driven, private hospitals" and "expensive, environmentally risky and unreliable" nuclear plants.
Hampton noted that Tory "quietly" supported the McGuinty government's $40,000 pay hike for MPPs in December 2006.
"Mr. Tory's Conservatives are sounding a lot like the Liberals these days," Hampton said.
As it stands, the campaign is the closest in years, with Tory running at 36 per cent popularity, just five points behind McGuinty.
Liberal support stands at 41 per cent, according to the Ipsos Reid poll, but is waning in the so-called 905 region, a suburban belt surrounding Toronto . The 905 district has been instrumental in propelling recent provincial governments to Queen's Park, both Liberal and Conservative.
According to the poll, the New Democratic and Green parties trail at 17 per cent and six per cent, respectively.
The Ipsos Reid telephone poll, which was conducted with a random sample of 801 respondents between Aug. 30 and Sept. 8, is considered accurate within 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
At dissolution one seat was vacant at Queen's park, which is expanding from 103 to 107 seats in this election
- with files from Lee Greenberg ( Ottawa Citizen), James Cowan (National Post) and Dalson Chen ( Windsor Star)
© CanWest News Service 2007
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Windsor Star

Attacks kick off Ontario election campaign

Dalson Chen, CanWest News Service
TORONTO -- Modest and middle-income families disappointed by the McGuinty government will get a "fair deal" with the Ontario NDP, said Howard Hampton.
"That's what this election is all about," said the leader of the provincial New Democrats on Monday morning. "It's what they deserve. A fair deal. Not more broken promises, not more disappointment."

Ontario NDP Leader Howard Hampton. (Dan Janisse, Windsor Star)

Hampton made the comments in front of Queen's Park as the NDP's campaign for the Oct. 10 provincial election began in earnest.
Standing before a bus emblazoned with the NDP logo that will tour across Ontario over the next 30 days, Hampton accused Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty of failing to deliver the positive change he promised in the 2003 election.
"What did he deliver? A $40,000 pay raise for himself. That was more important to him than increasing the minimum wage to $10 an hour, or helping children with autism."
According to Hampton , McGuinty has given multi-million dollar payouts to his "Hydro executive" friends, but has only offered "a shrug and weak excuses" for laid off workers. "That's the record of the McGuinty government."
In his wide-ranging attack speech, Hampton criticized the Liberals on issues such as lost manufacturing jobs, struggling rural communities, "unfair" property taxes, hospital wait times, and "internationally trained doctors delivering pizzas instead of babies, while one million Ontarians can't find a family doctor."
Hampton predicted that Ontario voters won't be fooled again.
"Four years ago, they put their trust in Dalton McGuinty. Now they recognize that Mr. McGuinty will say anything, promise anything to get their votes -- but won't do anything about those promises after the election."
With the bulk of Hampton 's salvos aimed at McGuinty, he only took time to fire a few criticisms at Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory.
Hampton said working families would not find any comfort with Tory, alleging the Progressive Conservatives seek "profit-driven, private hospitals" and "expensive, environmentally risky and unreliable" nuclear plants.
Hampton noted that Tory "quietly" supported the McGuinty government's $40,000 pay hike for MPPs in December 2006.
"Mr. Tory's Conservatives are sounding a lot like the Liberals these days," Hampton said.
Features of the NDP election platform pointed out by Hampton included dental care for those without coverage, help for farmers, support for municipalities, a freeze on tuition fees, environmental programs to fight global warming and encourage green energy, and a property tax assessment model that especially protects seniors and those on fixed incomes.
"These and other ideas, we will be discussing over the coming weeks. They're all about making life more affordable for hard-working modest and middle-income families," Hampton said.
Questioned on how the NDP would pay for their platform, Hampton said a detailed fiscal plan will be laid out later this week.
"It will show how we intend to have a balanced budget, and pay for the proposals that we've outlined."
Windsor Star
©CanWest News Service 2007
From a listmate
The Kingston Whig Standard

Youth mental health an issue; Candidates agree more money needed to alleviate problems

Posted By Ian Elliot

Posted 4 days ago
The first all-candidates event of the 2007 provincial election took place at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour last night with a forum on mental-health issues among children and youth.
It is an issue that no candidate could outright oppose, and last night's forum, organized by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and six local mental-health agencies for children and youth, saw four of the candidates running to represent Kingston and the Islands on Oct. 10 give their own nuanced positions on the issue.
Organizers brought in an expert panel of speakers in the area, but most of the questions from the audience were not addressed to the panel - who uniformly believed more money needs to be pumped into the field and barriers between ministries and agencies broken down - but to the politicians, who also acknowledged many of the same problems.
"There's no question that much more needs to be done," said Liberal MPP John Gerretsen in response to a question from Bob Eaton, a regional vice-president with OPSEU, saying that services for children and youth are not centrally co-ordinated but are overseen by individual ministries as diverse as health, justice and education.
"We owe it to our young people to ensure they get the services they need."
John Rapin, an emergency-room physician running for the Conservatives, noted that the provincial government is pouring money into autism treatment, but only because parents took the government to court to force them to provide treatment.
"Maybe everyone else should get together and sue the provincial government also," he mused.
And Rick Downes, a local vice-principal who is running under the NDP banner, said that the whole mental-health system is triggered by crisis rather than by a multi-year plan.
"The problem with the system now is that we are constantly dealing with crisis and the solution is not to spend a couple of million dollars here and there - we need to look at the entire system."
Green party candidate Bridget Doherty said her party would put nurses back in school to help diagnose problems earlier and establish five new substance abuse centres.
Dr. Abel Ickowicz, the chief of psychiatry at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and one of the speakers at the event, noted there was a wait of more than five months for young people needing psychiatric care in Ontario and said that all young people deserve to have speedy access to such care, in the same way they have a right to quick diagnosis and treatment of physical ailments.
"This is why we are in a mess in Ontario - because we have a number of sources of funding and they don't talk to one another," he said. "Mental-health problems in children are no different than asthma or diabetes."
From a listmate
The Toronto Sun

NDP: Grits' autism stand cost family house

By CHIP MARTIN, SUN MEDIA

RICHMOND HILL -- Premier Dalton McGuinty has failed working families, none more so than parents of autistic kids, Howard Hampton charged yesterday.
The New Democrat leader produced a family that says it has lost its home paying for treatment for its autistic son, the sort of costs McGuinty promised to cover during the 2003 election campaign.
McGuinty's government then spent $2.4 million in a court fight to withhold the promised help.
"This campaign is about hard-working families such as these that Dalton McGuinty has taken advantage of," said Hampton . "Ontarians deserve better than this."
Cemil and Nazile Asianboga said they spend $5,000 a month on medications and treatments for their son Burak, 11, because they had no help from the provincial government.
The couple said they had to sell their west Toronto home because of the cost burden.
"What we need is so expensive, financially," Nazile Asianboga told reporters.
Now with three children, including Burak and another on the way, the family lives in an apartment in Etobicoke.
The family was joined by NDP candidates from the area, including Nancy Morrison from York-Simcoe, parent of autistic son Sean, 8.
It was to Morrison in 2003 that McGuinty delivered his pledge of support for families of autistic children, promising they'd get "the support and treatment they need."
A copy of that vow was distributed by Hampton 's staff.
From a listmate
Parents of autistic kids plan to protest
Where the parties stand

Liberals say they have met and exceeded their promise from the 2003 election to extend intensive behaviour therapy to kids over the age of 5. They have doubled the number of kids getting the therapy to more than 1,200, tripled the annual budgeted funding on autism services to $140 million and are continuing to reduce wait lists, add therapists and starting to make it possible for autism treatment to be provided in schools.
Progressive Conservatives say they will invest another $75 million annually to speed up autism assessment and reduce wait lists for intensive therapy, provide treatment for kids over 6, increase therapist numbers and allow parents to choose whether they want government-funded treatment or direct funding for families to find private treatment.
New Democrats say they'll announce their plans to help autistic children later in the week.

Costly treatment set to be campaign issue

Sep 12, 2007 04:30 AM
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau

Burak Aslanboga used to live in a nice house with a backyard to play in, but his parents had to sell their home to pay for his autism therapy.
Now, 11-year-old Burak, his two sisters and his parents are crammed into a much smaller apartment in Etobicoke.
"What we need is so expensive. That's why we're asking for help," his mother Nazile Aslanboga said yesterday.
On just Day 2 of the provincial election campaign, the issue of services for autistic children was thrust into the spotlight.
Parents angry about insufficient government-funded autism services attended an NDP event in Richmond Hill yesterday morning and others plan to hold a protest at Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty's office in Ottawa on Saturday.
"It's hard to live with a child with autism, especially if there's no support (from) the government," Aslanboga said.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton lashed out at McGuinty for leaving children with autism "languishing on waiting lists" for treatment and forcing desperate parents to sell their homes to get the money they need to help their children.
"That is completely unacceptable. No parent should have to do that ... after the premier of the province gave them, and all other parents, a written promise that this was not going to happen," Hampton told reporters.
Right now, there are about 1,000 children on the waiting list for intensive behaviour intervention (IBI) therapy that can cost $50,000 a year per child.
In the 2003 election, McGuinty promised – in a letter to a mother of an autistic child – to end the previous Conservative government's "unfair and discriminatory" practice of cutting off IBI funding when children turned 6.
Once elected, he delayed doing it until 2005 and continued to fight parents in an existing court case.
Even though the Liberals have since tripled annual funding for autism to $140 million and more than doubled the number of children receiving the intensive therapy to some 1,200 children, the broken promise has dogged the party.
"We were not able to do it as quickly as we wanted because of a lack of therapists," Finance Minister and Liberal campaign co-chair Greg Sorbara said, adding that autism services was the only area that experienced a tripling of funding.
Hampton said parents would hear in "a couple of days" what his party would do for autistic children if elected.
Bruce McIntosh will be listening closely. He remembers the day in 2005 he got a call telling him his son Cliff had finally made it to the top of the waiting list for therapy.
Three days earlier, he and his wife had talked to a real estate agent about selling their home. For more than two years they had been paying some $20,000 a year to provide Cliff with part-time therapy.
IBI therapy, parents say, can change the world for some autistic children.
Sharon Gabison still remembers the first time her son, Eric Segal, asked a question.
"I had a son who didn't speak and one month after he started (intensive treatment) he came out with a question," Gabison said.
They were standing in a KFC fast food restaurant.
"What's the name of this place?" she recalls her son, then 5, asking.
"It was one of those oh-my-god moments in life," she said.
When her son turned 6 and was cut off the treatment that had made such a difference in his life, Gabison paid more than $50,000 to keep it going and joined with other families in a court case.
"You do anything you can for your kids," she said, adding too many families can't afford to go it alone.
She's a member of the Ontario Autism Coalition, which is trying to make autism funding a prominent election issue. "We're not necessarily targeting the Liberals. We're trying to make the issues known to everyone," she said.
Gabison attended Hampton 's event yesterday with the coalition's glass fish bowl. If every Ontarian put $7.50 in the bowl, the waiting list for services for autistic children could be eliminated, she said.
The coalition plans to give the money they collect throughout the election campaign to whichever party forms the next government and ask them to fix the system.
SPECIALS
Google alert

NDP calls for debate on North

JEFF GRAY
September 12, 2007
THUNDER BAY -- Northern Ontario , plagued by closing lumber mills and other job losses, has been left behind by the McGuinty Liberals, NDP Leader Howard Hampton charged yesterday, challenging his two main rivals to a debate on issues facing the region.
Mr. Hampton, who was born in Fort Frances , Ont., and whose riding is Kenora-Rainy River , said he wanted to take on Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty and Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory in a debate held in Northern Ontario on its problems.
Yesterday, Mr. McGuinty rejected the proposal for a separate debate and said northern issues would be discussed at the leaders debate on Sept. 20.
Brendan Howe, a spokesman for Mr. Tory, said, "Our position is that we would be more than happy to debate both Dalton McGuinty and Howard Hampton on northern issues."
Print Edition - Section Front
More National Stories
Mr. Hampton said that more than 40,000 people have lost their jobs, many in the forestry sector, across Northern Ontario since 2003, and blamed Mr. McGuinty for failing to deliver on a promise to create a new era of prosperity in the region.
Instead, he said, spiking hydro rates have forced lumber mills to close and a failure to reach agreements with native people means potential mineral wealth has not been mined. Local hospitals lack doctors and nurses, he said, and young people are leaving in droves.
"Increasingly, across the North, people feel they've been left out. This is especially so after the last four years of the McGuinty government," Mr. Hampton said at a campaign stop outside Sudbury .
Around midday, Mr. Hampton attended a staged meeting at a French-language seniors centre in Hanmer in the riding of Nickel Belt.
The woes in Northern Ontario , he said, are "not acceptable when we are told every time we open the pages of the business press that the stock market is booming, we've created more multimillionaires than ever before and that the economy is supposedly doing well."
Mr. Hampton began his day in Richmond Hill where, flanked by parents of children with autism, he accused Mr. McGuinty of betraying those with the disorder after promising to help in 2003. While decrying a large increase in the waiting list for treatment, he refused to outline or cost out his proposals to help autistic children, saying details would be revealed in the coming days.
Mr. Hampton, who has attracted Nancy Morrison, the parent of an autistic child, to run in York-Simcoe, said the Liberal Leader promised parents that he would fund the expensive treatment autistic children need beyond the age of 6, but then fought against the idea in a court battle that cost taxpayers $2.4-million - a number the Liberals tried hard to keep secret. The Liberals countered yesterday that they had tripled funding for autism treatment. "It's beyond cynical to use these families as the NDP have," Liberal campaign chairman Greg Sorbara said.
Google alert
Sep 11, 2007 15:41 ET

Politics Before Principle(TM): A McGuinty Trademark

TORONTO , ONTARIO --(Marketwire - Sept. 11, 2007) - NDP Candidate Nancy Morrison, the woman to whom Dalton McGuinty directly promised IBI autism services for her son, says "politics before principle" should be a McGuinty trademark.

"If there's anyone who knows politics before principle, it's Dalton McGuinty", said Morrison. "It's beyond cynical to suggest somehow that the McGuinty Liberals - who have done nothing but fight families of children with autism every step of the way - are somehow the antidote to threats to autism services. They are the threat," said the York Simcoe candidate. "Dalton McGuinty will say anything and do anything to get elected. I'm running for politics to step up my advocacy and show Ontario 's hardworking families can stand up for ourselves, our communities, and our children."

On September 17, 2003 Dalton McGuinty wrote to Morrison personally and made this promise: "I believe that the lack of government-funded Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) treatment for autistic children over six is unfair and discriminatory. The Ontario Liberals support extending autism treatment beyond the age of six."

He broke that promise. Then he wasted $2.4 million fighting families of children with autism in court instead of providing the services they need.

Nancy Morrison's family has mortgaged their home four times in order to pay for the IBI therapy her son Sean requires to help overcome the challenges of living with autism. It's just not fair.

As a direct result of McGuinty's promise and the hard work of the NDP to ensure children with autism are no longer ignored, Morrison decided to run for politics: for the NDP.
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Star
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Star PM
Hampton slams Liberals
Sep 11, 2007 03:41 PM
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau
If every Ontarian put $7.50 into Sharon Gabison's fishbowl, the waiting list for services for autistic children could be eliminated, she says.
Gabison and other parents of autistic children were at a press conference with NDP Leader Howard Hampton in Richmond Hill this morning and Hampton had no problem putting his $7.50 in Gabison's bowl, but he wasn't willing to say exactly what his party would do for autistic children if elected.
But he did have plenty to say about how badly the Liberals have handled the autism file.
"McGuinty Liberals have disgraced themselves by breaking their promise to Ontario 's most vulnerable citizens and their families," Hampton said.
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From a Listmate
Windsor Star

Kids' centre gets $2.8M

As election looms, province allots money for expansion

Grace Macaluso, Windsor Star

Published: Friday, September 07, 2007
With an election call just days away, MPP Sandra Pupatello (Liberal -- Windsor West) announced Thursday an additional $2.8 million in funding for an estimated $16.8-million expansion of the John McGivney Children's Centre.
"This is more than a building project," Pupatello told a news conference at the Matchette Road facility. "This $2.8 million is about increasing the number of children and families who can access the quality treatment provided by the dedicated and talented staff at the John McGivney Centre."
The province had already committed $8 million to the project, bringing its total to $10.8 million.

'ADDITIONAL SUPPORT': Students Christina Bially, right, and Brayden O'Gorman, centre left, are joined by other children as they listen to resource teacher Anita Hayes, not shown, during a program at the John McGivney Centre. The children's centre will receive $2.8 million for its expansion.

Nick Brancaccio, Windsor Star
On Monday, Premier Dalton McGuinty is expected to call an Oct. 10 election, but Pupatello said the plan to provide additional funding had been in the works for several months.
The expansion was originally slated to cost $12 million.
"Once they got the go-ahead with the project when the $8 million (from the province) was announced, then the organization had to go through all of the machinations to develop the plans," she said.
55,000-SQUARE-FOOT EXPANSION
"While that was happening over the course of the last year it became very obvious that the amount was going to be far in excess of the fundraising component and the $8 million ... they needed more support and we'd been working for the last year to secure that."
The centre must raise another $6 million for the 55,000-square-foot expansion, which would to be ready for occupancy in 2009, said Stephen Payne, chairman of the fundraising committee.
Established by the Rotary Club in 1978, the centre is one of 20 children's treatment centres in Ontario and one of only three that provides comprehensive rehabilitation and integrated preschool and elementary school in one location.
It serves 150 clients and provides services to 2,100 children a year with conditions such as spina bifida, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and autism. There are about 345 children on the centre's waiting list, said Payne.
"The additional support will allow us to move forward and realize our vision to be the centre of hope, support and inspiration for children with disabilities and their families," said Arla Peters, president of the centre's board of directors.
© The Windsor Star 2007
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McGuinty no friend to autoworkers: Hampton

Dalson Chen, Windsor Star

Published: Tuesday, September 11, 2007
TORONTO - Dalton McGuinty has been bad for the auto sector, despite his endorsement by CAW leader Buzz Hargrove, according to Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton.
"Mr. Hargrove is entitled to his opinion, but the evidence is in. I was in Windsor last week -- 35,000 jobs destroyed in the auto sector," said Hampton on Monday morning in Toronto .
Hampton also pointed to GM layoffs in Oshawa . "It's pretty tough to argue that this government has been good for the auto sector when you see literally tens of thousands of auto sector jobs being lost ... almost on a weekly basis."
Hampton made the comments after delivering a speech to kick off the Ontario NDP's campaign bus tour leading up to the Oct. 10 election.
For the next 30 days, Hampton will visit communities across the province to drum up support for his "fair deal" for modest and middle-income families.
"That's what this election is all about," Hampton said. "A fair deal. Not more broken promises, not more disappointment."
In April, Hargrove pledged his support to the provincial Liberals, and told CAW members that "strategic voting" is necessary to prevent a majority Progressive Conservative government.
But standing before a bus emblazoned with the orange NDP logo, Hampton accused Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty of failing to deliver the positive change he promised in the 2003 election.
"What did he deliver? A $40,000 pay raise for himself. That was more important to him than increasing the minimum wage to $10 an hour, or helping children with autism."
According to Hampton , McGuinty has given multimillion-dollar payouts to his "Hydro executive" friends, but has only offered "a shrug and weak excuses" for laid off workers. "That's the record of the McGuinty government."
In his wide-ranging attack speech, Hampton criticized the Ontario Liberals on such issues as lost manufacturing jobs, struggling rural communities, "unfair" property taxes, hospital wait times, and "internationally trained doctors delivering pizzas instead of babies, while one million Ontarions can't find a family doctor."
Hampton predicted that the Ontario voting public won't be fooled again.
Later in the day during a stop in Hamilton , Hampton continued his attack.
"Dalton McGuinty will promise anything," scoffed Hampton .
"I understand he was even here the other day promising to help Hamilton get a NHL team. He must know something about (NHL Commissioner) Gary Bettman the rest of us don't know," said Hampton, a lifelong hockey enthusiast.
"You talk about something that's completely absurd. As I say, he will promise anything."
Hampton told members of the media and about 50 placard-carrying supporters that Hamiltonians "have gotten a raw deal from the McGuinty government.
"If there's a city in this province that represents working people -- people who work hard, people who pay their taxes, people who contribute to their community, people who are responsible -- this is it."
© The Windsor Star 2007
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Ottawa Citizen

Opposition leaders attack McGuinty's credibility

Lee Greenberg, CanWest News Service
OTTAWA — Ontario ’s opposition leaders maintained their attack on Dalton McGuinty’s credibility Tuesday — the same day the Liberal premier literally sidestepped the faith-based school’s issue by ignoring his Catholic alma mater in favour of a secular public school.
Asked about the decision, which comes during a campaign centred on the school funding issue, McGuinty downplayed his choice. “I’ve visited many Catholic schools during my (mandate),” he said in French, adding that the campaign “has just started.”

McGuinty recently called faith-based schools segregationist and suggested they could have a negative impact on social cohesion, despite being a product of a faith-based school himself.

In campaign stops around the Greater Toronto Area Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory hammered the premier over his ill-fated promise not to hike taxes if elected. NDP_Leader Howard Hampton also accused McGuinty of failing to help children with autism, while also challenging his counterparts to debate him on northern Ontario issues, in a northern Ontario community.

Proponents of religious school funding saw McGuinty’s choice on Tuesday to visit Charles H. Hulse Public School as significant.

The school is within spitting distance of McGuinty’s Catholic high school, St. Patrick’s.

“We note with interest that two doors down, there’s a Catholic school that is fully supported by the government of Ontario ,” Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress said.

“St. Patrick’s High school serves as a model of how we can integrate other faith based schools into our public education system.”

Farber and others have labelled McGuinty a hypocrite for excluding Catholic facilities from his attack on faith-based schools.
McGuinty, his wife Terri and the couple’s four kids all attended schools in the Catholic system. Terri still teaches part-time in a Catholic board.
His opponents complain the premier’s position focuses only on other religious schools and not those run by the Catholic board.

“He’s said in not so many words that the Catholic community can be trusted not to cause social unrest and not to be segregationist while all other faith communities cannot,” Farber last week.
Public school funding is a focal point for election interest in Ontario , where voters will go to the polls Oct. 10.
Ontario has long-funded only Catholic schools and none of any other religions, an arrangement that dates back to Confederation.

Tory reignited a long-simmering debate when he promised to extend full funding to all religious schools. The policy corrects what he believes is an unfair system.

McGuinty, who as opposition leader held much the same position as Tory but has since changed course, on Tuesday dismissed any thought of dismantling the current arrangement.

Tuesday also marked the fourth anniversary of McGuinty signing a pledge drafted by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) stating he would “not raise taxes or implement new taxes without the explicit consent of Ontario voters.”

After he was elected, his Liberal government introduced the Ontario health premium, which costs middle-class residents an average of $750 annually.

“Dalton McGuinty not only broke his promise not to raise taxes, he shattered it beyond any recognition,” Tory told reporters at a Toronto press conference on Tuesday morning.

Tory noted the Liberal leader also pledged not to run a deficit, but government did just that during their first two years in office.

“If you held a competition and invited all the best screenwriters, conspiracy theorists, filmmakers – everybody – and asked them to dream up the stereotypical scandal of a politician breaking his promises and eroding the public trust, you would be hard pressed to come up with something worse than the McGuinty health tax,” Tory said.

John Williamson, CTF president, on Monday presented Tory with a framed original copy of Mr. McGuinty’s pledge.

“I think a lot of people – our group included – have branded the premier a liar,” Williamson said.

Tory himself has refused to refer to his Liberal rival as a “liar,” instead saying McGuinty “broke many, many promises” and “failed to keep his word.”

But Liberals were quick to condemn Williamson’s choice of words. Greg Sorbara, the finance minister and liberal campaign’s chairman, said he was “saddened by the quality of the rhetoric.”

“When a party and a campaign go exclusively negative, it usually means they’re in a freefall,” Sorbara said in an interview.
But Tory remained focused on the health tax throughout the day, devoting a substantial portion of a speech to business people in Oakville to the same issue.
Tory’s message is being reinforced in attack ads the Conservatives began airing on Tuesday on television stations across the province.

Built around the theme “Promises made, promises broken,” the four 30-second ads focus on commitments McGuinty has failed to keep in relation to crime, the environment, taxes and the treatment of autistic children.

New Democratic Partly Leader Howard Hampton picked up on the issues of services for children with autism on Tuesday.

But Hampton remained vague about the Ontario NDP’s own financial plans for helping the needy group.

“We’ll be laying out exactly how we’re going to approach this issue in some detail in a couple days,” Hampton said. “I’ll be happy to lay it out in a couple days. Along with some other educational services that are interlinked and interwoven.”

Hampton made the comments at a Richmond Hill , Ont. centre for children with autism and special needs called Leaps and Bounds.

The parents of autistic children took the McGuinty government to court in 2003 over a broken election promise to fund what is known as intensive behaviour intervention (IBI) for autistic children over six years of age. They won that initial decision, but the province appealed, arguing the intensive one-on-one process works best for children under age six and that other forms of treatment work better for older children.

In July 2006, the government won the appeal, and earlier this year the Supreme Court of Canada announced it would not hear their appeal case.

Although the McGuinty government has since eliminated the age cutoff, Hampton said the Ontario NDP has discovered — after much trouble — that it cost the government $2.4 million in legal fees to fight the families in court.

“We want to quantify that for you. $2.4 million would’ve provided IBI treatment for 50 children,” said Hampton .

At a later campaign stop in Sudbury he challenged his counterparts to a debate on northern issues.
“Let’s give them a chance,” said Hampton standing outside the Club Age D’Or centre for seniors in Sudbury on Tuesday afternoon. “I’m going to continue to raise the issues of northern Ontario . If Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Tory aren’t up to it, I think what it indicates is they don’t take the challenges that Northern Ontario faces very seriously.”
Hampton, a native of the northwestern Ontario community of Fort Frances , said that throwing down the gauntlet was necessary due to the severity of the problems faced by northern Ontario such as doctor shortages, lack of long-term care, an inadequate level of children’s services, major job losses and the migration of workers elsewhere.
- with files from Dalson Chen ( Windsor Star) and James Cowan ( National Post)
©Ottawa Citizen 2007
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Vancouver Province

Money for religious schools an early issue in Ontario election

CanWest News Service

Published: Tuesday, September 11, 2007
TORONTO -- An already-stormy Ontario provincial election officially kicked off yesterday Premier Dalton McGuinty dropped the writ on what he called "one of the most important elections" in the province's history.
McGuinty signalled his intention to hammer his Conservative rival, John Tory, over Tory's plan to fund religious schools.
"Publicly funded education is at the heart of our agenda," McGuinty told reporters.
Tory has been on the campaign trail for a week, much of the time defending the proposal to extend public funding to Christian fundamentalist, Jewish, Muslim and other faith-based schools.
The Liberals, who held 67 seats in the legislature at dissolution, contend the plan would suck $400 million in funding from public schools.
Ontario fully funds Catholic schools, but none run by other religious groups.
Tory, whose Conservatives held 25 seats at Queen's Park, vowed to make "leadership" the central issue of the campaign, saying McGuinty has broken too many promises.
"You cannot lead if you have lost credibility, if trust has been broken," Tory said.
Tory was flanked by 45 black-and-white signs, each listing a promise supposedly broken by McGuinty's Liberals.
"Mr. McGuinty promised not to raise taxes and raised them," Tory said.
The Conservatives have promised if elected to eliminate the controversial Ontario health premium tax, which currently generates $2.6-billion a year.
The Conservatives have also promised to cut $1.5-billion in government spending, cap property-tax assessment increases at five per cent and move government jobs out of Toronto to communities that have lost jobs in the manufacturing sector.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton said dental care, municipalities, a freeze on tuition fees, global warming and green energy top his proposals.
"They're all about making life more affordable for hard-working modest and middle-income families," said Hampton .
Hampton also slammed McGuinty.
"What did he deliver? A $40,000 pay raise for himself. That was more important to him than increasing the minimum wage to $10 an hour, or helping children with autism," said Hampton .
Hampton, whose party has 10 seats in the legislature, also said working families would not find any comfort with Tory, alleging that the Conservatives seek "profit-driven, private hospitals" and "expensive, environmentally risky" nuclear plants.
Voters go to the polls on Oct. 10.
© The Vancouver Province 2007
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Google Alert
National Post

The election race is officially on in Ontario

CanWest News Service

Published: Monday, September 10, 2007
TORONTO - An already-testy provincial election got underway Monday with a warning from Premier Dalton McGuinty, who said if elected, his opponents would deplete public services and return the province to days of "conflict, cuts and division."
But McGuinty, whose Liberals held 67 seats in the legislature at dissolution, didn't apologize for breaking a now-famous pledge not to raise taxes.
"I was faced with a difficult choice. I made a decision," he said, referring to his government's $2.6 billion health tax, a levy Conservatives - who are lead by John Tory - call the biggest in the province's history.

Conservative party leader John Tory. (Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa Citizen)

"Mr. Tory says he disagrees with me. I know what he would have done - he would have closed still more hospitals."
The premier said voters will now have to decide on Oct. 10 if they are happy with the legacy of that broken promise, increased public-sector spending on things like teacher salaries and nurses.
Tory, whose Conservatives held 25 seats at Queen's Park, vowed on Monday to make "leadership" the central issue of the Ontario election campaign, saying McGuinty has broken too many promises. "You cannot lead if you have lost credibility, if trust has been broken," Tory told reporters minutes after the election officially began. "Keeping your promises matters."
Tory was flanked by 45 black-and-white signs, each listing a promise supposedly broken by McGuinty's Liberals.
While the promises ranged from blocking development on the Oak Ridges Moraine - a belt of rolling hills that runs north of Toronto eastward toward Peterborough - to diverting 60 per cent of municipal waste away from landfill to closing coal-fired power plants, the most important broken promise to the Conservative campaign is McGuinty's introduction of the Ontario health premium after he promised not to raise taxes.
"Mr. McGuinty promised not to raise taxes and raised them," Tory said. "I think he has mislead voters, I think he has been less than straightforward with voters and I think he will be held to account for that. It is going to be a major issue because people have the right to know that their leaders are going to tell them the truth."
The Conservatives have promised if elected to eliminate the controversial tax, which generates $2.6 billion in revenue annually.
The PCs have also pledged to cut $1.5 billion in government spending, cap property tax assessment increases at five per cent and move government jobs out of Toronto to communities that have lost jobs in the manufacturing sector.
McGuinty raised on Monday the spectre of former Conservative premier Mike Harris, who executed a radical agenda of tax and spending cuts. McGuinty said Tory offers voters "the same old failed Conservative approach - one that will take us backwards."
"He said he'd find $1.5 billion in efficiencies ... but he's not prepared to tell us where," McGuinty said. "Well, we've seen that movie before. They found efficiencies last time by closing hospitals, by firing nurses and by increasing wait times."
The two leaders have already tangled over Tory's plan to fund religious schools, a controversial issue that Liberals say will ghettoize minority communities.
Tory has already been on the campaign trail for a week visiting ridings in the Toronto area. And much of his time has been spent defending the proposal to extend public funding to Jewish, Muslim and other faith-based schools.
The Liberals contend the plan would suck $400 million in funding from public schools and are attempting to cast the election as a referendum on the future of Ontario 's education system.
McGuinty on Monday emphasized his party's support for public education. "Publicly funded education is at the heart of our agenda," he told reporters at Queen's Park. "Nothing is more important to building the society we want and the economy we need."
The faith-based school issue has quickly become a flashpoint in the provincial election, with McGuinty portraying himself as the defender of the public system. Not so long ago, however, McGuinty proposed much the same fix to what he saw as "inequities" in the current system.
Ontario fully funds Catholic schools and none run by other religious groups.
Asked Monday when he changed his position, McGuinty ducked the question: "People know what I ran on last time," he said.
McGuinty was formally nominated in his Ottawa South riding Monday night where he told a surprised crowd that his first stop would be to hospital where his mother, Elizabeth, was recouperating from emergency surgery after falling downstairs and breaking her hip.
"You know how I know she's doing fine? Because when I was talking to her earlier ... she said 'if you don't win the election you're out of the family," he joked. "(That) is so typical of my mom."
NDP_Leader Howard Hampton said Monday modest and middle-income families disappointed by the McGuinty government will get a "fair deal" with Ontario New Democrats.
"That's what this election is all about," said Hampton . "It's what they deserve. A fair deal. Not more broken promises, not more disappointment."
McGuinty later singled out Ontarians who were considering parking their vote with the New Democrats.
"Only one of two parties is going to win this election. And those who are considering voting for the NDP need to understand there's only one party that can form a government that can continue to invest in public services that will champion the needs of families," he said.
Elements of the NDP election platform include: dental care for those without coverage, help for farmers, support for municipalities, a freeze on tuition fees, environmental programs to fight global warming and encourage green energy, and a property tax assessment model that especially protects seniors and those on fixed incomes.
"These and other ideas, we will be discussing over the coming weeks. They're all about making life more affordable for hard-working modest and middle-income families," said Hampton, who later campaigned in Hamilton .
Questioned on how the NDP would pay for its platform, Hampton said a detailed fiscal plan will be laid out later this week.
"It will show how we intend to have a balanced budget, and pay for the proposals that we've outlined."
Hampton, who shares space at Queen's Park with nine other NDP_MPPs, also said working families would not find any comfort with Tory, alleging that the Progressive Conservatives seek "profit-driven, private hospitals" and "expensive, environmentally risky and unreliable" nuclear plants.
Hampton noted that Tory "quietly" supported the McGuinty government's $40,000 pay hike for MPPs in December 2006.
"Mr. Tory's Conservatives are sounding a lot like the Liberals these days," Hampton said.
As it stands, the campaign is the closest in years, with Tory running at 36 per cent popularity, just five points behind McGuinty.
Liberal support stands at 41 per cent, according to the Ipsos Reid poll, but is waning in the so-called 905 region, a suburban belt surrounding Toronto . The 905 district has been instrumental in propelling recent provincial governments to Queen's Park, both Liberal and Conservative.
According to the poll, the New Democratic and Green parties trail at 17 per cent and six per cent, respectively.
The Ipsos Reid telephone poll, which was conducted with a random sample of 801 respondents between Aug. 30 and Sept. 8, is considered accurate within 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
At dissolution one seat was vacant at Queen's park, which is expanding from 103 to 107 seats in this election
- with files from Lee Greenberg ( Ottawa Citizen), James Cowan (National Post) and Dalson Chen ( Windsor Star)
© CanWest News Service 2007
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Windsor Star

Attacks kick off Ontario election campaign

Dalson Chen, CanWest News Service
TORONTO -- Modest and middle-income families disappointed by the McGuinty government will get a "fair deal" with the Ontario NDP, said Howard Hampton.
"That's what this election is all about," said the leader of the provincial New Democrats on Monday morning. "It's what they deserve. A fair deal. Not more broken promises, not more disappointment."

Ontario NDP Leader Howard Hampton. (Dan Janisse, Windsor Star)

Hampton made the comments in front of Queen's Park as the NDP's campaign for the Oct. 10 provincial election began in earnest.
Standing before a bus emblazoned with the NDP logo that will tour across Ontario over the next 30 days, Hampton accused Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty of failing to deliver the positive change he promised in the 2003 election.
"What did he deliver? A $40,000 pay raise for himself. That was more important to him than increasing the minimum wage to $10 an hour, or helping children with autism."
According to Hampton , McGuinty has given multi-million dollar payouts to his "Hydro executive" friends, but has only offered "a shrug and weak excuses" for laid off workers. "That's the record of the McGuinty government."
In his wide-ranging attack speech, Hampton criticized the Liberals on issues such as lost manufacturing jobs, struggling rural communities, "unfair" property taxes, hospital wait times, and "internationally trained doctors delivering pizzas instead of babies, while one million Ontarians can't find a family doctor."
Hampton predicted that Ontario voters won't be fooled again.
"Four years ago, they put their trust in Dalton McGuinty. Now they recognize that Mr. McGuinty will say anything, promise anything to get their votes -- but won't do anything about those promises after the election."
With the bulk of Hampton 's salvos aimed at McGuinty, he only took time to fire a few criticisms at Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory.
Hampton said working families would not find any comfort with Tory, alleging the Progressive Conservatives seek "profit-driven, private hospitals" and "expensive, environmentally risky and unreliable" nuclear plants.
Hampton noted that Tory "quietly" supported the McGuinty government's $40,000 pay hike for MPPs in December 2006.
"Mr. Tory's Conservatives are sounding a lot like the Liberals these days," Hampton said.
Features of the NDP election platform pointed out by Hampton included dental care for those without coverage, help for farmers, support for municipalities, a freeze on tuition fees, environmental programs to fight global warming and encourage green energy, and a property tax assessment model that especially protects seniors and those on fixed incomes.
"These and other ideas, we will be discussing over the coming weeks. They're all about making life more affordable for hard-working modest and middle-income families," Hampton said.
Questioned on how the NDP would pay for their platform, Hampton said a detailed fiscal plan will be laid out later this week.
"It will show how we intend to have a balanced budget, and pay for the proposals that we've outlined."
Windsor Star
From a Listmate, for our American neighbours.
September 13, 2007
In the Hunt

Out of Adversity, an Opportunity

By BRENT BOWERS
As his mother tells it, Cade Larson was a lively 15-month-old who loved playing peekaboo and chase with other children and was quickly adding to his vocabulary of more than 50 words, including “fish,” “bowl” and “shoe.”
But then, said his mother, Jennifer VanDerHorst-Larson, Cade got vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella, influenza and chicken pox on Oct. 15, 2001. He wailed for a few moments, then slumped into a deep sleep that lasted 14 hours. When he woke up, she said, he was a different child.
“He stopped looking at me,” Ms. VanDerHorst-Larson said. “He had lost his speech.” She believes he had a huge seizure that resulted in brain damage.
In a heartbeat, her mission became healing her son. In that, she failed. On Valentine’s Day 2002, her school district told her that Cade had the severest case of autism it had ever seen. “This is my only child,” she said. “I can’t describe the pain.”
The idea that vaccines cause autism has been widely rejected by mainstream scientists, though some doctors are investigating it and many parents of autistic children remain convinced there is a link.
But Ms. VanDerHorst-Larson, 35, had a resource for fighting back that many parents do not: She was an entrepreneur. In 1996, she had opened a Pilates studio in Minneapolis . In 1998, she had started Vibrant Technologies, a buyer and seller of information technology hardware that now has 40 employees and expects revenue this year of $45 million, up from $37 million last year.
In the five and a half years since Cade’s condition was diagnosed, Ms. VanDerHorst-Larson has thrown herself into the challenge of giving meaning to his life with all of the classic weapons of the entrepreneurial personality: superhuman energy, bottomless self-confidence, bulldog tenacity, a compulsion to be in control and a knack for spotting opportunities in even the most disheartening reversals of fortune.
In effect, she has made caring for her son and for others like him her third business.
She shut her first one, the Pilates venture, to free up time. For two years, she traveled the country, attending seminars and taking Cade to neurologists, immunologists and other specialists, until, she said, she realized she would never find the cure she was seeking.
“By then, I was running a home program for him, nine people in all: a behavioral analyst, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, a psychologist, a social worker, a special education teacher and three behavioral therapists,” Ms. VanDerHorst-Larson said.
She was also running Vibrant. She said she was getting just two hours of sleep a night. “It was not normal,” she said. “It was inhuman.”
“It was the same drive you have when you start a company,” she said. “My son was my investment. I was the manager.” Ms. VanDerHorst-Larson said that her husband, David Larson, a co-owner of Vibrant, was very supportive, but “this was who I am, not who he was.”
In April 2003, she started the nonprofit Holland Center in Excelsior, Minn. , for children ages 2 to 8 who have autism, including Cade, whose face is on the Web site’s home page. The staff consists of a behavioral analyst, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, a special education teacher, a music teacher, two psychologists, 15 behavioral therapists and Ms. VanDerHorst-Larson as the business manager. That comes to 23 people working with 17 children.
Six months after the Holland Center was created, she was back to more traditional entrepreneurship, starting St. Croix Solutions, a technology consulting firm and provider of computer hardware. She said that she wanted her son to sprout his wings and that she realized he could not do that if she was at the center all the time.
But it was more than that. “It’s in my nature,” she said. “I saw an opportunity. My husband says, ‘Don’t start anything else.’ But it’s like a drug.” Ms. VanDerHorst-Larson estimates that St. Croix ’s revenue this year will be $26 million, up from $18 million last year.
Dr. Kerry J. Sulkowicz, an M.D. who founded the Boswell Group, a New York consulting firm that specializes in business culture issues, says Ms. VanDerHorst-Larson’s approach to her son’s disability is a case study in “the uncanny ability of entrepreneurs to see obstacles as challenges and to jump over them instead of being stopped by them.”
“Many mothers might react to the discovery that their child has autism with depression,” Dr. Sulkowicz said. “Jennifer didn’t because she had pre-existing resources that she could call upon to seek a solution to the problem.”
Asked how he interpreted her statement that her son became her investment and she the manager, Dr. Sulkowicz said it was “ a depersonalization of something that is extremely personal.” He continued: “It’s kind of like saying, ‘On one level, I’m not going to think in terms of mother and son, I’m going to take a half step back and approach and deal with that as a business problem. Because that way, I will be more likely to find a solution.’ That approach, in turn, has probably made her a sturdier and more satisfied mother.”
Ms. VanDerHorst-Larson said she had not decided yet what to do next. She said she might create a chain of autism centers or a foundation to help children with autism. Or both.
Her ordeal, she agreed, had made her a better entrepreneur. “It changed my perspective on everything,” she said. “It gave me more drive in looking for opportunities and challenging myself more. It has led me to think harder, make smarter decisions.”
Successful entrepreneurs do not agonize over problems. They jump in and solve them, often in ways they could never have foreseen. Ms. VanDerHorst-Larson was unable to find a quick fix to Cade’s autism. But she found a remedy.
“Today, he does speak,” she said. “He says, ‘Sit, mommy,’ and ‘Blue crayon,’ and ‘Red shirt.’ He’s not in pain anymore. He’s a social person. He makes eye contact. He’s happy.”
•
Next week at www.nytimes.com/smallbusiness, an In the Hunt column online: How an entrepreneur overcame depression so debilitating it had forced her to close her business.
Yorkregion.com - Regional News - NDP leader slams McGuinty on autism
NDP leader slams McGuinty on autism
MORE STORIES
Regional News
Sep 12, 2007 09:08 PM
Premier hasn't kept promise to fund treatment, York resident says
By: Michael Power
Premier Dalton McGuinty has yet to fulfill a promise to provide autism treatment to every child in Ontario who needs it, says York Simcoe riding NDP candidate Nancy Morrison.

Ms Morrison, whose eight-year-old son, Sean, has autism, and provincial NDP leader Howard Hampton visited Richmond Hill Tuesday. The pair spoke about autism issues while visiting Leaps and Bounds, a centre that provides services for autistic children.

Mr. Hampton chastised the premier for not ensuring more children received treatment for their autism.

“He denied (children with autism) services he said he would deliver,†Mr. Hampton said in a release. “The McGuinty Liberals have disgraced themselves by breaking their promises to Ontario’s most vulnerable citizens and families.â€

More than 1,000 remain on a waiting list to receive funding for autism treatment known as Intensive Behavioural Intervention.

Families who pay for treatment by themselves often spend more than $50,000 a year per child.

But the Liberal government has tripled spending for autism services since gaining office in 2003, Vaughan Liberal MPP Greg Sorbara said in an interview.

“I don’t think there’s any program in government where we’ve increased support by 300 per cent,†Mr. Sorbara said.

Mr. Sorbara couldn’t say how long it would take to clear the wait list for IBI, but noted his party would work hard to ensure more children received treatment.

Ms Morrison received a letter from Mr. McGuinty before the last election stating his commitment to help autistic children get government-funded IBI treatment.

Although her son now receives partial funding for IBI, Ms Morrison had to re-mortgage her home four times to pay for treatment in the past.

“Families in Ontario shouldn’t have to live like this,†said Ms Morrison, who is running for office for the first time during this election. “My story isn’t any different than any family who has a child with autism.â€

Although the Liberal government has increased funding for treatment, that funding hasn’t kept up with the need for programs, Ms Morrison said.
Vaughan hospital still years away
MORE STORIES
Vaughan
Sep 12, 2007 11:20 PM

By: Michael Power
Greg Sorbara smiles and shrugs when asked about his sandwich.

“It’s campaign food,†says the finance minister and incumbent MPP running for re-election in the Vaughan riding.

He’s sitting in a Vaughan sandwich shop this week for an interview, one stop of many during what he calls a “brutal†30-day campaign schedule. The campaign itself is only two days old.

“But if feels very good,†said Mr. Sorbara, who is also the chairperson of the Liberals’ provincial campaign. “(The campaign) is a listening exercise to help you evaluate if the government is on the right track.â€

It’s also an exercise in getting a message across to voters and to do that Mr. Sorbara is focusing on what his government has done over the past four years.

High up on that list is planning to improve the transit system servicing Vaughan — and the GTA’s — growing population, Mr. Sorbara said.

He pointed to the province’s MoveOntario 2020 program, a $17.5 billion plan to, among other commitments, build more than 900 kilometres of new or improved rapid transit, extend the Yonge Street subway to Hwy. 7 and extend express bus service across Highway 407.

The plan, Mr. Sorbara said, is designed to transform public transit in the GTA. But does completing the plan depend on the Liberals remaining in office?

“We’re determined to be in power and we’re determined to implement this plan,†he said. “If the worst happened, would (Progressive Conservative leader) John Tory pull the plan? I hope not.â€

His party will deal with the province’s shortage of doctors by expanding enrollment in medical schools (such as at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in Thunder Bay and Sudbury ) and ensuring more doctors trained overseas get accreditation here, Mr. Sorbara said.

The Liberals have also tripled spending for autism services. But Mr. Sorbara said the funds weren’t available to speed up access to services over the last four years because the money simply wasn’t available.

Autism advocates have pushed the province to clear a list of roughly 1,000 children waiting for funding.

Parents still waiting for that funding must pay for the treatment out-of-pocket, which remains a pricey option.

Mr. Sorbara wouldn’t say how long getting children off the list would take, although he did say the Liberals planned to work towards funding treatment for more children with autism.

“I wouldn’t want to speculate as to how quickly we’ll be able to do that, but if we continue to make the same progress we’ve made over the past four years, you will see a reduction in the wait list,†Mr. Sorbara said.

Because of the amount of planning involved in the project, Vaughan residents will likely have to wait between three and four years before construction begins on a new hospital here, he said.

Municipalities can expect to hear discussion of the province taking over responsibility for more services, he said.

Premier Dalton McGuinty announced at a conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario last month his government would upload responsibility for the province’s disability and drug benefit program, starting Jan.1. The cost of doing so would be $935 million.

Both the NDP and Conservatives have also promised to upload more costs to the province if elected Oct. 10.

Other services, such as ambulance and social housing services, remain on the table for possible return to provincial responsibility, Mr. Sorbara said.

Although municipalities have been asking for several years that downloaded responsibilities be shifted back on Queen’s Park’s shoulders, such a move hasn’t been possible until recently, he said.

He stressed Liberal candidates in York region plan to campaign aggressively over the next several weeks.

“I’m a baseball fan and the rule is in baseball you’ve got to play all nine innings and you’ve got to play them well,†he said.
From a listmate
Mom. daughter team jewel of charity's eye
Susan Zaidlin and her daughter, Hope Katz, holds a teddy bearing the image of her son Joshua, who died of leukemia in 1992. Joshua was the major inspiration behind Ms Zaidlin’s fundraising business, Packaged Dreams.
MORE STORIES
Thornhill
Sep 12, 2007 10:56 PM

By: Jennifer Brooks
Susan Zaidlin has channelled her creativity and love of craft making into what has become a fundraising phenomenon.

The Thornhill resident’s company, Packaged Dreams, which she runs with her daughter, Hope Katz, is a fundraising program that works for any cause that needs these services. She says it works for everything from hockey leagues to autism awareness events.

“I have been doing fundraising for about 16 years,†Ms Zaidlin says. “My 14-year-old son, Joshua, died from Lukemia in 1992. That’s what strengthened me to help others. The cancer society is the biggest fundraiser I do and I would do anything for them, but I will also do anything for any (other cause).â€

Sadly, her son’s death was not the only tragic event to serve as inspiration for her. A few years ago Ms Zaidlin’s sister-in-law died of breast cancer. Ms Zaidlin decided to use her creativity and passion to help women who are sick and suffering with the disease feel better about themselves, while raising money for the cause.

“The girls that have cancer and begin to lose their hair and feel sick want to have something that will make them feel pretty,†Ms Zaidlin says. “I make Swarovski bracelets and crystal bracelets.†Ms Zaidlin also uses her talent to craft awareness ribbons, key chains and good luck baby pins.

All for others

Ms Zaidlin explains that it started out fairly small. With an interest in baking, a friend of Ms Zaidlin’s suggested that she make chocolate to raise funds for breast cancer research. So, 8,000 chocolate-shaped breasts later, Susan sucessfully raised money and awareness for the breast cancer cause.

Her fundraising career had begun.

“I started making jewelry for breast cancer, then I got involved with multiple sclerosis and then I decided I would do fundraising for everybody,†she says. “Whoever needed money, I would come and set up and make them money.â€

Ms Zaidlin and her daughter have raised money for hockey leagues, nursery schools, St. Johns Ambulance, autism and MS events, to name a few.

However, this is not a lucrative money-making enterprise for her. Ms Zaidlin explains she negotiates the amount of money a charity will receive in advance and she only asks to cover her costs so she can afford to purchase more materials to keep the fundraisers going. Most often, she says, 80 per cent of the money generated goes directly to the charity.

For more information, call Ms Zaidlin at 905-731-6697.
This from Nancy Morrison:
Well, the Provincial Election Campaign is officially under way. Many of you have asked how you can help me out during the campaign, so I want to address that to everyone on this e-mail list via this personal mailout.
www.nancymorrison.ca
My website is up and going, it will be updated continually throughout the campaign. You can visit the website, read all about the campaign and the riding, utilize the website to help out the campaign via
1. putting up a sign on your property (if living in the York Simcoe Riding),
2. donating some time to help out with door knocking, etc,
3. doing some virtual office work, or
4. donating to help pay for the expenses of running this campaign.
5. The OAC have graciously offered to plan a day for autism families in Ontario to assist in my campaign on Saturday, September 22nd. I sure hope you can all help out. To get more details, please contact the OAC via e-mail at splitter2@rogers.com
Tuesday, September 11th - Leaps and Bounds, Richmond Hill
You may have read in the papers about Tuesday's event regarding autism issues. It was a Leaders Stop by our Party Leader Howard Hampton, at Leaps and Bounds in Richmond Hill . I have attached to this mailing some of the media coverage from that event. Rest assured that myself and the NDP will keep the autism issues paramount throughout this election campaign and during the next 4 years. We have some excellent candidates that are involved in autism issues, any one of us are ready to take on the Autism Portfolio once in office.
Best regards everyone!!!
Nancy Morrison
NDP Provincial Candidate
York Simcoe Riding
-------------------------------------------
Here are some of the articles from Tuesday's event, but by no means is it inclusive of all the coverage.... it was covered in papers across the province, and I was advised it even hit into the US media. CTV and CBC were there and covered it on their newscasts on Tuesday as well.
The NDP Media Release for the event:
September 11, 2007
Hampton challenges McGuinty betrayals of working families
Richmond Hill – NDP Leader Howard Hampton says this election gives Ontarians the chance to choose between McGuinty Liberal betrayals and the NDP’s plan for a fair deal for today’s working families.
"Dalton McGuinty’s priorities are wrong. He put himself and his friends ahead of working families," Hampton said while speaking at Leaps and Bounds, a centre that provides treatment for children with autism.
"Mr. McGuinty gave himself a $40,000 raise and handed out millions of slush fund dollars to his friends. But he broke promises to working families, like children with autism and their families. He denied them services he said he would deliver. That’s someone who will do or say anything to win your vote but won’t keep his promises after the election," the NDP Leader said.
Joining Hampton at today’s press conference was NDP York Simcoe Candidate Nancy Morrison. Her son has autism. During the last election, McGuinty wrote Morrison a letter that promised autism services for every child who needs them. But after the election, McGuinty broke that promise. He even gave lawyers $2.4 million to fight parents in court so he could break his promise.
As of March 31, 2007, 1,100 children were languishing on waiting lists for autism services. That's an increase of 1,200 per cent from when the McGuinty Liberals took office. That includes Burak Aslanboga. His parents Cemil and Nazile Aslanboga had to sell their home because that’s the only way they could raise the money they need to pay the $5,000-a-month bill for their son’s autism services. Hampton says that’s unacceptable – and a clear sign that McGuinty is out of touch with working families.
"McGuinty Liberals have disgraced themselves by breaking their promises to Ontario ’s most vulnerable citizens and their families. You can’t count on Liberals," Hampton said. "Ontarians want a provincial government that puts people first, that guarantees opportunities for all our young people, including children with autism. To make that happen, Ontario needs more NDP MPPs standing up for working families."
– 30 –
Media Inquiries: Jon Weier (416) 591-5455 x290 / Kaj Hasselriis x 271
--------------------------------------------
Globe and Mail:

Autistic children have been betrayed, says NDP

JEFF GRAY
Globe and Mail Update
September 11, 2007 at 12:45 PM EDT
RICHMOND HILL, Ont. — Dalton McGuinty has betrayed children with autism, NDP Leader Howard Hampton charged Tuesday morning at a campaign stop flanked by parents of children with the condition.
But Mr. Hampton refused to outline or cost out his proposals to help autistic children, saying the details would be revealed in the coming days.
Mr. Hampton opened his second day of campaigning at a centre that offers programs for autistic children north of Toronto, and read from a letter Mr. McGuinty wrote to an autistic child's parent — Nancy Morrison, now an NDP candidate in York-Simcoe — in which the Liberal Leader promised before winning the 2003 election to extend funding for treatment for children over the age of six.
“After the election, what we saw from Dalton McGuinty was a complete about face,” Mr. Hampton said, saying that the Liberals not only broke their promise but spent $2.4-million — an amount the government tried to keep secret — fighting the parents of autistic children in court.
The province's fight with parents of autistic children began in April, 2003, when 29 families sued the then Progressive Conservative government for denying their autistic children special therapy after age six.
Despite his campaign promise, Mr. McGuinty did not increase funding for autism treatment until mid 2005, after the courts ruled that the province was violating the children's constitutional rights by denying them treatment. The province then successfully appealed that ruling last year.
The Liberals hit back on Tuesday, with campaign chair Greg Sorbara saying Mr. Hampton and the NDP were putting politics ahead of principle.
“The McGuinty Liberals ended the unfair age cutoff, more than tripled investments for children with autism and more than doubled the number of kids receiving IBI therapy. The NDP voted against those investments,” Mr. Sorbara said in a press release.
“It's beyond cynical to use these families as the NDP have.”
Mr. Hampton and his wife, MPP Shelley Martel have raised the autism issue repeatedly in recent years, and the NDP campaign has drawn a number of advocates for children with autism, including Ms. Morrison. “He let us all down,” said Ms. Morrison, 48.
She said her fight for treatment for her eight-year-old son, Sean, drove her into politics. While she wouldn't say what the NDP would promise to do for parents like her, she said she was confident the party's platform would address her concerns.
Treatment for autism, which can severely impair a child's ability to communicate, can cost as much as $5,000 a month without government help, and the NDP says that as of March of this year, 1,100 children were on a waiting list for autism treatment, an increase of 1,200 per cent over the Liberals' term.
At Tuesday's press conference, in a basement gymnasium decorated with animal murals and with a toddler-sized tricycle in the corner, Mr. Hampton was joined by Nazile Aslanboga and her husband Cemil, a couple who said they had to their sell their home in Toronto west end and move to an apartment in Etobicoke to afford treatment for their 11-year-old autistic son, Burak.
Ms. Aslanboga said her son, one of three children with a fourth on the way, had to wait two years for treatment, but then lost access to it when he turned six. She said new alternative therapies were starting to help him.
“His seizures get less [frequent] and he's less aggressive with his sisters, and his behaviour gets better,” she told reporters in halting English.
She was going to bring her son to the press conference, but a seizure prevented him from attending, an NDP official said.
Questioned repeatedly, Mr. Hampton said he would lay out the NDP's detailed plans on autism funding and other issues in the next few days.
Mr. Hampton's campaign tour was to head Sudbury and Thunder Bay for the rest of the day, to attend events with local NDP candidates.
---------------------
The Globe and Mail:

Autistic children have been betrayed, says NDP

JEFF GRAY
Globe and Mail Update
September 11, 2007 at 12:45 PM EDT
RICHMOND HILL, Ont. — Dalton McGuinty has betrayed children with autism, NDP Leader Howard Hampton charged Tuesday morning at a campaign stop flanked by parents of children with the condition.
But Mr. Hampton refused to outline or cost out his proposals to help autistic children, saying the details would be revealed in the coming days.
Mr. Hampton opened his second day of campaigning at a centre that offers programs for autistic children north of Toronto, and read from a letter Mr. McGuinty wrote to an autistic child's parent — Nancy Morrison, now an NDP candidate in York-Simcoe — in which the Liberal Leader promised before winning the 2003 election to extend funding for treatment for children over the age of six.
“After the election, what we saw from Dalton McGuinty was a complete about face,” Mr. Hampton said, saying that the Liberals not only broke their promise but spent $2.4-million — an amount the government tried to keep secret — fighting the parents of autistic children in court.
The province's fight with parents of autistic children began in April, 2003, when 29 families sued the then Progressive Conservative government for denying their autistic children special therapy after age six.
Despite his campaign promise, Mr. McGuinty did not increase funding for autism treatment until mid 2005, after the courts ruled that the province was violating the children's constitutional rights by denying them treatment. The province then successfully appealed that ruling last year.
The Liberals hit back on Tuesday, with campaign chair Greg Sorbara saying Mr. Hampton and the NDP were putting politics ahead of principle.
“The McGuinty Liberals ended the unfair age cutoff, more than tripled investments for children with autism and more than doubled the number of kids receiving IBI therapy. The NDP voted against those investments,” Mr. Sorbara said in a press release.
“It's beyond cynical to use these families as the NDP have.”
Mr. Hampton and his wife, MPP Shelley Martel have raised the autism issue repeatedly in recent years, and the NDP campaign has drawn a number of advocates for children with autism, including Ms. Morrison. “He let us all down,” said Ms. Morrison, 48.
She said her fight for treatment for her eight-year-old son, Sean, drove her into politics. While she wouldn't say what the NDP would promise to do for parents like her, she said she was confident the party's platform would address her concerns.
Treatment for autism, which can severely impair a child's ability to communicate, can cost as much as $5,000 a month without government help, and the NDP says that as of March of this year, 1,100 children were on a waiting list for autism treatment, an increase of 1,200 per cent over the Liberals' term.
At Tuesday's press conference, in a basement gymnasium decorated with animal murals and with a toddler-sized tricycle in the corner, Mr. Hampton was joined by Nazile Aslanboga and her husband Cemil, a couple who said they had to their sell their home in Toronto west end and move to an apartment in Etobicoke to afford treatment for their 11-year-old autistic son, Burak.
Ms. Aslanboga said her son, one of three children with a fourth on the way, had to wait two years for treatment, but then lost access to it when he turned six. She said new alternative therapies were starting to help him.
“His seizures get less [frequent] and he's less aggressive with his sisters, and his behaviour gets better,” she told reporters in halting English.
She was going to bring her son to the press conference, but a seizure prevented him from attending, an NDP official said.
Questioned repeatedly, Mr. Hampton said he would lay out the NDP's detailed plans on autism funding and other issues in the next few days.
Mr. Hampton's campaign tour was to head Sudbury and Thunder Bay for the rest of the day, to attend events with local NDP candidates.
---------------------
The Toronto Star:
Parents of autistic kids plan to protest TheStar.com - Ontario Election - Parents of autistic kids plan to protest
Costly treatment set to be campaign issue
September 12, 2007
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau

Burak Aslanboga used to live in a nice house with a backyard to play in, but his parents had to sell their home to pay for his autism therapy.
Now, 11-year-old Burak, his two sisters and his parents are crammed into a much smaller apartment in Etobicoke.
"What we need is so expensive. That's why we're asking for help," his mother Nazile Aslanboga said yesterday.
On just Day 2 of the provincial election campaign, the issue of services for autistic children was thrust into the spotlight.
Parents angry about insufficient government-funded autism services attended an NDP event in Richmond Hill yesterday morning and others plan to hold a protest at Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty's office in Ottawa on Saturday.
"It's hard to live with a child with autism, especially if there's no support (from) the government," Aslanboga said.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton lashed out at McGuinty for leaving children with autism "languishing on waiting lists" for treatment and forcing desperate parents to sell their homes to get the money they need to help their children.
"That is completely unacceptable. No parent should have to do that ... after the premier of the province gave them, and all other parents, a written promise that this was not going to happen," Hampton told reporters.
Right now, there are about 1,000 children on the waiting list for intensive behaviour intervention (IBI) therapy that can cost $50,000 a year per child.
In the 2003 election, McGuinty promised – in a letter to a mother of an autistic child – to end the previous Conservative government's "unfair and discriminatory" practice of cutting off IBI funding when children turned 6.
Once elected, he delayed doing it until 2005 and continued to fight parents in an existing court case.
Even though the Liberals have since tripled annual funding for autism to $140 million and more than doubled the number of children receiving the intensive therapy to some 1,200 children, the broken promise has dogged the party.
"We were not able to do it as quickly as we wanted because of a lack of therapists," Finance Minister and Liberal campaign co-chair Greg Sorbara said, adding that autism services was the only area that experienced a tripling of funding.
Hampton said parents would hear in "a couple of days" what his party would do for autistic children if elected.
Bruce McIntosh will be listening closely. He remembers the day in 2005 he got a call telling him his son Cliff had finally made it to the top of the waiting list for therapy.
Three days earlier, he and his wife had talked to a real estate agent about selling their home. For more than two years they had been paying some $20,000 a year to provide Cliff with part-time therapy.
IBI therapy, parents say, can change the world for some autistic children.
Sharon Gabison still remembers the first time her son, Eric Segal, asked a question.
"I had a son who didn't speak and one month after he started (intensive treatment) he came out with a question," Gabison said.
They were standing in a KFC fast food restaurant.
"What's the name of this place?" she recalls her son, then 5, asking.
"It was one of those oh-my-god moments in life," she said.
When her son turned 6 and was cut off the treatment that had made such a difference in his life, Gabison paid more than $50,000 to keep it going and joined with other families in a court case.
"You do anything you can for your kids," she said, adding too many families can't afford to go it alone.
She's a member of the Ontario Autism Coalition, which is trying to make autism funding a prominent election issue. "We're not necessarily targeting the Liberals. We're trying to make the issues known to everyone," she said.
Gabison attended Hampton 's event yesterday with the coalition's glass fish bowl. If every Ontarian put $7.50 in the bowl, the waiting list for services for autistic children could be eliminated, she said.
The coalition plans to give the money they collect throughout the election campaign to whichever party forms the next government and ask them to fix the system.
--------------------
Toronto Star:
Autistic kids let down, Hampton charges TheStar.com - News - Autistic kids let down, Hampton charges
September 11, 2007
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau

If every Ontario resident put $7.50 into Sharon Gabison's fishbowl, the waiting list for services for autistic children could be eliminated, she says.
Gabison and other parents of autistic children were at a press conference in Richmond Hill this morning in support of NDP Leader Howard Hampton.
Hampton had no problem putting his $7.50 in Gabison's bowl but he wasn't willing to say exactly what his party would do for autistic children if elected.
Parents will have to wait "a couple of days" to hear his plans, he said.
But he did have plenty to say about how badly the Liberals have handled the autism file, starting with breaking a 2003 election promise to provide intensive autism therapy to kids who need it regardless of age.
The "McGuinty Liberals have disgraced themselves by breaking their promise to Ontario 's most vulnerable citizens and their families," Hampton said.
More than 1,000 children are on the list for Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) in Ontario , which can cost more than $50,000 annually per child.
During the 2003 election campaign, McGuinty promised to end the previous Conservative government's "unfair and discriminatory" practice of cutting off IBI funding when children turned 6. But he then delayed doing it and continued to fight parents in an existing messy court case.
The government spent $2.4 million — enough to provide treatment to 50 children — on legal bills fighting parents in court, Hampton said.
Even though the Liberals have doubled annual funding for autism over the past two years to $115 million, the issue of the broken promise has dogged them and many parents of autistic children have gotten involved with other parties.
Nancy Morrison - who received the promise letter from McGuinty in the last election — is now the NDP candidate in York Simcoe.
Parents will like what they hear from Hampton on autism, she said.
---------------------
from the York Region papers;
Premier hasn't kept promise to fund treatment, York resident says
By: Michael Power
Premier Dalton McGuinty has yet to fulfill a promise to provide autism treatment to every child in Ontario who needs it, says York Simcoe riding NDP candidate Nancy Morrison.

Ms Morrison, whose eight-year-old son, Sean, has autism, and provincial NDP leader Howard Hampton visited Richmond Hill Tuesday. The pair spoke about autism issues while visiting Leaps and Bounds, a centre that provides services for autistic children.

Mr. Hampton chastised the premier for not ensuring more children received treatment for their autism.

He denied (children with autism) services he said he would deliver, Mr. Hampton said in a release. The McGuinty Liberals have disgraced themselves by breaking their promises to Ontario 's most vulnerable citizens and families.

More than 1,000 remain on a waiting list to receive funding for autism treatment known as Intensive Behavioural Intervention.

Families who pay for treatment by themselves often spend more than $50,000 a year per child.

But the Liberal government has tripled spending for autism services since gaining office in 2003, Vaughan Liberal MPP Greg Sorbara said in an interview.

I don't think there is any program in government where we've increased support by 300 per cent, Mr. Sorbara said.

Mr. Sorbara couldn't say how long it would take to clear the wait list for IBI, but noted his party would work hard to ensure more children received treatment.

Ms Morrison received a letter from Mr. McGuinty before the last election stating his commitment to help autistic children get government-funded IBI treatment.

Although her son now receives partial funding for IBI, Ms Morrison had to re-mortgage her home four times to pay for treatment in the past.

Families in Ontario shouldn't have to live like this, said Ms Morrison, who is running for office for the first time during this election. My story isn't any different than any family who has a child with autism.
Although the Liberal government has increased funding for treatment, that funding hasn't kept up with the need for programs, Ms Morrison said.
---------------------
From National Post:
Wednesday » September 12 » 2007
Opposition leaders attack McGuinty's credibility
Lee Greenberg
CanWest News Service

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
OTTAWA - Ontario 's opposition leaders maintained their attack on Dalton McGuinty's credibility Tuesday - the same day the Liberal premier literally sidestepped the faith-based school's issue by ignoring his Catholic alma mater in favour of a secular public school.
Asked about the decision, which comes during a campaign centred on the school funding issue, McGuinty downplayed his choice.
"I've visited many Catholic schools during my (mandate)," he said in French, adding that the campaign "has just started."
McGuinty recently called faith-based schools segregationist and suggested they could have a negative impact on social cohesion, despite being a product of a faith-based school himself.
In campaign stops around the Greater Toronto Area Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory hammered the premier over his ill-fated promise not to hike taxes if elected. NDP_Leader Howard Hampton also accused McGuinty of failing to help children with autism, while also challenging his counterparts to debate him on northern Ontario issues, in a northern Ontario community.
Proponents of religious school funding saw McGuinty's choice on Tuesday to visit Charles H. Hulse Public School as significant.
The school is within spitting distance of McGuinty's Catholic high school, St. Patrick's.
"We note with interest that two doors down, there's a Catholic school that is fully supported by the government of Ontario ," Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress said.
"St. Patrick's High school serves as a model of how we can integrate other faith based schools into our public education system."
Farber and others have labelled McGuinty a hypocrite for excluding Catholic facilities from his attack on faith-based schools.
McGuinty, his wife Terri and the couple's four kids all attended schools in the Catholic system. Terri still teaches part-time in a Catholic board.
His opponents complain the premier's position focuses only on other religious schools and not those run by the Catholic board.
"He's said in not so many words that the Catholic community can be trusted not to cause social unrest and not to be segregationist while all other faith communities cannot," Farber last week.
Public school funding is a focal point for election interest in Ontario , where voters will go to the polls Oct. 10.
Ontario has long-funded only Catholic schools and none of any other religions, an arrangement that dates back to Confederation.
Tory reignited a long-simmering debate when he promised to extend full funding to all religious schools. The policy corrects what he believes is an unfair system.
McGuinty, who as opposition leader held much the same position as Tory but has since changed course, on Tuesday dismissed any thought of dismantling the current arrangement.
Tuesday also marked the fourth anniversary of McGuinty signing a pledge drafted by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) stating he would "not raise taxes or implement new taxes without the explicit consent of Ontario voters."
After he was elected, his Liberal government introduced the Ontario health premium, which costs middle-class residents an average of $750 annually.
"Dalton McGuinty not only broke his promise not to raise taxes, he shattered it beyond any recognition," Tory told reporters at a Toronto press conference on Tuesday morning.
Tory noted the Liberal leader also pledged not to run a deficit, but government did just that during their first two years in office.
"If you held a competition and invited all the best screenwriters, conspiracy theorists, filmmakers - everybody - and asked them to dream up the stereotypical scandal of a politician breaking his promises and eroding the public trust, you would be hard pressed to come up with something worse than the McGuinty health tax," Tory said.
John Williamson, CTF president, on Monday presented Tory with a framed original copy of Mr. McGuinty's pledge.
"I think a lot of people - our group included - have branded the premier a liar," Williamson said.
Tory himself has refused to refer to his Liberal rival as a "liar," instead saying McGuinty "broke many, many promises" and "failed to keep his word."
But Liberals were quick to condemn Williamson's choice of words. Greg Sorbara, the finance minister and liberal campaign's chairman, said he was "saddened by the quality of the rhetoric."
"When a party and a campaign go exclusively negative, it usually means they're in a freefall," Sorbara said in an interview.
But Tory remained focused on the health tax throughout the day, devoting a substantial portion of a speech to business people in Oakville to the same issue.
Tory's message is being reinforced in attack ads the Conservatives began airing on Tuesday on television stations across the province.
Built around the theme "Promises made, promises broken," the four 30-second ads focus on commitments McGuinty has failed to keep in relation to crime, the environment, taxes and the treatment of autistic children.
New Democratic Partly Leader Howard Hampton picked up on the issues of services for children with autism on Tuesday.
But Hampton remained vague about the Ontario NDP's own financial plans for helping the needy group.
"We'll be laying out exactly how we're going to approach this issue in some detail in a couple days," Hampton said. "I'll be happy to lay it out in a couple days. Along with some other educational services that are interlinked and interwoven."
Hampton made the comments at a Richmond Hill , Ont. centre for children with autism and special needs called Leaps and Bounds.
The parents of autistic children took the McGuinty government to court in 2003 over a broken election promise to fund what is known as intensive behaviour intervention (IBI) for autistic children over six years of age. They won that initial decision, but the province appealed, arguing the intensive one-on-one process works best for children under age six and that other forms of treatment work better for older children.
In July 2006, the government won the appeal, and earlier this year the Supreme Court of Canada announced it would not hear their appeal case.
Although the McGuinty government has since eliminated the age cutoff, Hampton said the Ontario NDP has discovered - after much trouble - that it cost the government $2.4 million in legal fees to fight the families in court.
"We want to quantify that for you. $2.4 million would've provided IBI treatment for 50 children," said Hampton .
At a later campaign stop in Sudbury he challenged his counterparts to a debate on northern issues.
"Let's give them a chance," said Hampton standing outside the Club Age D'Or centre for seniors in Sudbury on Tuesday afternoon. "I'm going to continue to raise the issues of northern Ontario . If Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Tory aren't up to it, I think what it indicates is they don't take the challenges that Northern Ontario faces very seriously."
Hampton, a native of the northwestern Ontario community of Fort Frances , said that throwing down the gauntlet was necessary due to the severity of the problems faced by northern Ontario such as doctor shortages, lack of long-term care, an inadequate level of children's services, major job losses and the migration of workers elsewhere.
- with files from Dalson Chen ( Windsor Star) and James Cowan ( National Post)
© Ottawa Citizen 2007
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From the Windsor Star
Wednesday » September 12 » 2007
Autistic children ignored by McGuinty: Hampton
Dalson Chen
Windsor Star

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Provincial New Democrat leader Howard Hampton held a press conference Tuesday morning to hammer the McGuinty government for its "trail of deception" regarding services for children with autism.
But Hampton remained vague about the Ontario NDP's own financial plans for helping the needy group.
"We'll be laying out exactly how we're going to approach this issue in some detail in a couple days," Hampton said. "I'll be happy to lay it out in a couple days. Along with some other educational services that are interlinked and interwoven."
Pressed for hard figures, Hampton replied: "This is a 30-day election campaign, and in the next couple of days, we'll be laying out a detailed plan on the kinds of fiscal arrangements that need to be made to pay for these services. For right now, this is about who the election is about."
Hampton made the comments at a Richmond Hill centre for children with autism and special needs called Leaps and Bounds.
Flanked by York-Simcoe NDP candidate Nancy Morrison and York South-Weston MPP Paul Ferreira, Hampton criticized Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty for allowing the list of children waiting for autism services to reach 1,100 names - 12 times higher than when the Liberals took office.
"This has been a terrible game by Dalton McGuinty and his government at the expense of some of the most vulnerable children in Ontario today," Hampton said.
Also standing with Hampton were Cemil and Nazile Aslanboga, a family of five whose eldest son has autism. The boy was unable to attend the press conference due to suffering a seizure.
According to Hampton , the Aslanbogas had to sell their Toronto home to cover the $5,000-per-month services required to help 11-year-old Burak.
"What we need is so expensive financially," said Nazile Aslanboga, Burak's mother.
Nazile - who emigrated from Turkey in 1992 - said the family now lives in a small apartment in Etobicoke. Her husband works in construction. She is currently pregnant with their fourth child.
According to Nazile, Burak has spent two years on a waiting list for the special treatment known as intensive behaviour intervention (IBI).
"It's very hard to live with a child with autism, especially when there's no help from the government," Nazile said.
In 2003, a group of families with autistic children took the McGuinty government to court for reneging on an election promise and not funding IBI treatment for kids over the age of six.
The case went to the Supreme Court, with the government eventually winning an appeal.
Although the McGuinty government has since eliminated the age cutoff, Hampton said the Ontario NDP has discovered - after much trouble - that it cost the government $2.4 million in legal fees to fight the families in court.
"We want to quantify that for you. $2.4 million would've provided IBI treatment for 50 children," Hampton said.
Morrison, herself a parent of an 8-year-old child with autism, said she decided to run for MPP because she wanted to hold Dalton McGuinty accountable for not fulfilling the promises he made in a personal letter he wrote to her.
Read aloud by Hampton at the press conference, the letter pledges to extend autism treatment, including IBI.
"That was before the election," Hampton said. "After the election, what we saw from Mr. McGuinty was a complete about-face. Instead of keeping the promises he made to Nancy Morrison ... Mr. McGuinty fought these parents and their children with every tactic at his disposal."
Despite Hampton 's lack of elaboration on how the Ontario NDP will serve children with autism better than the Liberals, Morrison said she has full confidence in Hampton and the party.
"I have been in discussion with him about what they will be doing, and I want the party to be able to release their stuff when they choose to release it," Morrison said.
Asked how other parents with autistic children can trust the party when they don't know what's planned, Morrison replied: "They will know what the party plans to do in the next two days ... I am very reassured. I have no worries at all about what the platform will be with the NDP."
© The Windsor Star 2007
------------------------
My media release in response to Mr. Sorbara's comments, I think he thinks we should all be Stepford Wives:
From NDP Provincial Candidate Nancy Morrison, York Simcoe Riding:
POLITICS BEFORE PRINCIPLE™: A McGuinty Trademark
NDP Candidate Nancy Morrison, the woman to whom Dalton McGuinty directly promised IBI autism services for her son, says "politics before principle" should be a McGuinty trademark.
"If there’s anyone who knows politics before principle, it’s Dalton McGuinty", said Morrison. "It’s beyond cynical to suggest somehow that the McGuinty Liberals – who have done nothing but fight families of children with autism every step of the way – are somehow the antidote to threats to autism services. They are the threat," said the York Simcoe candidate. "Dalton McGuinty will say anything and do anything to get elected. I’m running for politics to step up my advocacy and show Ontario ’s hardworking families can stand up for ourselves, our communities, and our children."
On September 17, 2003 Dalton McGuinty wrote to Morrison personally and made this promise: "I believe that the lack of government-funded Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) treatment for autistic children over six is unfair and discriminatory. The Ontario Liberals support extending autism treatment beyond the age of six."
He broke that promise. Then he wasted $2.4 million fighting families of children with autism in court instead of providing the services they need.
Nancy Morrison’s family has mortgaged their home four times in order to pay for the IBI therapy her son Sean requires to help overcome the challenges of living with autism. It’s just not fair.
As a direct result of McGuinty’s promise and the hard work of the NDP to ensure children with autism are no longer ignored, Morrison decided to run for politics: for the NDP.
- 30 -
Media Inquiries: Jon Weier (416) 591-5455 x 290
From a listmate
From The Sunday Times
September 9, 2007

Quest for a miracle cure

http://www.horseboymovie.com/

These parents believe horses and shamans can unlock their son’s autistic mind. This is their journey of discovery

Tim Rayment
A child is born, and the child seems blessed. He lives in the richest nation on Earth, at a time of greater wealth and understanding than any in history. The infant even has interesting parents: one British, one American, each a little famous in their own right.
But then something disquieting happens. Perhaps this was your child, too.
He starts to go backwards. First he loses his language, then he enters a solitary hell. He turns away when touched and arches his back when held. He lines up his toys in rows, and seems afraid of things that should hold no fear. He appears not to notice you, and his indifference makes you feel snubbed.
Soon the real heartache starts. You see other children play together in a sandpit while yours is to one side, obsessively pouring and repouring sand through his fingers. Sudden firestorms run through his nervous system, making him scream in panic and pain. Later, in the calmer years when he is four or five, other children’s attempts at friendship are rebuffed. This is not because your child wants no companions: the truth might be that he yearns for them. But he is mystified by social interaction, and conversation makes him nervous, as he has no idea how to respond. So he turns away with a distant expression, seeming cold and weird. This is autism. Your lovely offspring looks condemned to what, in 1943, Leo Kanner first described as "extreme autistic loneliness", and many readers of this magazine will know a family that is affected. In the UK , 1 in 100 children is on the autistic spectrum.
It is a mystifying disorder. But on a farm in Texas , a British father thinks he has found a way into the mind of his autistic son. The boy has learnt to talk thanks to his relationship with a horse. He can quell his tantrums, express his feelings, even do maths and spelling — all because of a horse. He is the Horse Boy, and the loss of his symptoms is a challenge to conventional thought on how to handle his condition.
Can you love a child out of autism? Can you at least save your child from its worst effects, without destroying your marriage and yourself? All parents long to be good parents. The question is: how? Can the answer possibly be a horse?
If any family is equipped to combat the mysteries of this agonising disorder, it is this one. Kristin Neff, the mother, is a developmental psychologist with easy access to other experts because they are on the same corridor at Texas University . Rupert Isaacson, the father, is a campaigning writer and former horse trainer whose life has been spent drawing attention to injustice. For the past five years, their talents have been focused on Rowan, their autistic son. "You’ve got to put yourself inside his mind," says Rupert, who learnt patience and empathy in his earlier career as a horse whisperer, hired to bring manic animals under control.
To start with, Rowan seemed normal. He talked quite early, and at 12 months he had five words starting with B. Then he lost them. When he failed to pass certain milestones at 18 months, his mother knew something was up. But such are the misunderstandings around his condition that even she, an associate professor of human development, would joke that at least it wasn’t autism, because he made such good eye contact. Only now does she appreciate that the clichés of autism are not supported by proper research. How many autistic children are as loving as this one? How many can look a parent straight in the eye? We don’t know: the work has not been done.
Kristin asked an early childhood intervention team to assess her son. It offered no diagnosis, perhaps to delay the day when meeting his needs would dent its budget. In the end, she diagnosed him herself by looking up "early warning signs of autism" on the internet. He had every signal listed. For a condition in which early intervention is crucial, the family had lost six months.
We don’t know what causes autism, although the interaction of genes with toxins is suspected. (Rowan lacks a gene to produce glutathione, an antioxidant that combats toxins; a report on the possible role of plastics and pharmaceuticals in autism is due next year.) At least we now understand what autism is. Put simply, the brain is wired differently. Scans suggest that the white matter in the frontal cortex, the brain’s "computer cables", is overgrown. Instead of connecting all the parts of the brain, there might be a mass of cables leading to one area, so part of the brain has more wiring than it needs, while another part is poorly served. The only normal areas are the visual cortex and those at the back of the brain that store memories.
As a result, many autistic people don’t think in words but in pictures, patterns or symbols. "When I read, I translate written words into colour movies or I simply store a photo of the written page to be read later," says Temple Grandin, one of those who, in the past 20 years, have opened up the autistic world to us by learning how to describe it in verbal language. We still don’t know what life is like for those at the most afflicted end of the spectrum, but
it is likely that sights, sounds and touches mix together. "It must be like seeing the world through a kaleidoscope and trying to listen to a radio station that is jammed with static at the same time," says Grandin. That’s not all. Some report a broken volume control that causes sounds — a speech therapist’s voice, say — to jump erratically from a loud boom to inaudible, plus a nervous system in regular fear or panic.
The extra brain cabling gives a minority of autists dazzling "savant" skills, such as the ability of Kim Peek, who inspired the film Rain Man, to read two pages simultaneously, one with each eye, or that of Daniel Tammet, a maths genius in Kent , to recall pi to 22,514 decimal places. For others, ordinary experience is intolerable. They say they can hear the blood whooshing through their veins, or every sound in a school building. Fluorescent lighting can cause an entire room to pulsate on and off, 50 times a second. Meanwhile, missing wires can mean no flexibility or common sense. A child at a birthday party who is surrounded by peers licking ice cream may stare at his cone in bewilderment because, although he loves ice cream, he has always eaten it with a spoon.
For Rowan, autism takes a form called PDD-NOS, which means his social and communication skills are severely impaired but he does not fit the classic definitions. He began to flap his arms and babble, and to retreat into himself for hours at a time. For two years he suffered neurological firestorms in which he would flail around on the ground. "It could be because a breath of wind touches his cheek, and it feels like he’s being brushed with a flame-thrower," Rupert says.
"He can’t communicate what’s wrong." Looking through old notes, Rupert says he wondered if his son would ever be able to ask a question, or hold a parent’s hand and go for a walk.
The diagnosis was in April 2004, when Rowan was 2½. His parents tried the usual prescription: speech and occupational therapy, applied behavioural analysis, chelation to get rid of toxins, supplements to adjust the child’s chemistry this way or that. But there was a problem. Much of the evidence favours applied behavioural analysis, which uses strict routine and a system of rewards and subtle punishment to foster basic skills and inhibit unwanted behaviour. But this has been in vogue for a while, so nothing else has been tested to the same degree. And these parents, who live in the hippie belt near Austin in Texas — equivalent to Devon’s Totnes or Yorkshire’s Hebden Bridge — were always going to find it difficult.
Kristin is Buddhist, and Rupert, in the words of his friend Rian Malan, is open-hearted, optimistic "and vulnerable to enchantment". After meeting African healers to research The Healing Land, his book about the Kalahari Bushmen, he is open to communion with the spirit world. Strict routine is not their thing, and neither is pretending not to notice a child’s distress ("ignoring negative behaviour" as therapists put it). Their instinct is to cuddle and reassure, and to put Rowan first. "We’re his slaves," Rupert says. They also have an intellectual objection to the accepted wisdom. Life throws our children curve balls. Shouldn’t we throw curve balls too? If structure helps autistic children in the short term, does it reinforce the rigidities of the disorder in the long term? When you start to think like this, of course, you are on your own.Then came an accidental discovery. Like many autistic boys, Rowan has energy; one day he escaped through a fence and got among a neighbour’s horses. A quarter horse called Betsy started displaying submissive body language to the child. This was odd. Despite her gentle eyes, Betsy is a grumpy alpha-mare who would not think twice about putting two hooves in the face of a horse that annoyed her, or taking an incompetent rider straight back to the barn.
Yet here she was with her head on the ground, submitting to a babbling two-year-old boy. For years, Rupert had been a professional horse trainer, and his first reaction was to cry. Here was evidence that his son might share his passionate connection with horses. But if autism gave Rowan an eerie direct line to the horse, it also meant he could not learn to ride. He had little control over his body, and if distracted he would fall off. As father and son, they could take this no further. Rupert broke down.
Then came a second chance event. Commissioned to write an article on Honduras , Rupert went into the hills — and came across all these dads on horseback with their children. He could teach Rowan to ride after all, he realised: they could share the same horse. On his return, he put a saddle on Betsy and said to Rowan: Do you want to get up? And the boy gave him a direct answer for the first time. "Up! Up!" he said, and suddenly this father-son experiment was not about learning to ride. It was about finding a route into the mind of an autistic child.
As they went riding in the days that followed, they talked. The father said: Do you want to go fast or slow? Do you want to go to the water or do you want to go to the trees? Oh look, a crow! A crow is black. How do you spell crow? Give Betsy a hug. Thank you, Betsy! And Rowan responded. In place of his usual babble and empty repetitions were some meaningful words. At first the new skill came only on the horse, vanishing like a dream when he was on the ground. Then it extended into his wider world, too. After six months, when Rowan was 3½, he could tell Betsy spontaneously that he loved her. "We really owe the bulk of Rowan’s cognitive speech to Betsy," says Rupert today. "I’ve never been as grateful to a living being as I am to that horse."
Just as significant was the effect on Rowan’s tantrums. He was still having firestorms — the screaming, the writhing, the passers-by asking to call an ambulance. But although he might be a jerking ball of random energy until being put in the saddle, and spasm again as soon as he got off, on Betsy he was calm.
He had also responded to healers. Just after the diagnosis, Rupert brought a party of African hunter-gatherers to America to publicise the loss of their land to diamond mining. The bushmen became part of a 10-day event in California , and some took Rowan into their ceremonies, praying over him and going into trance. His symptoms seemed to reverse: he even showed people his toys. Afterwards, he regressed. But not as far back as before.
By now speech therapists were giving up on Rowan: he could talk either on Betsy or off her, but not with therapists — not in their closed rooms. The professionals were saying that they could help no further. What did seem to work was a grumpy horse and an encounter with an ancient culture. Like any good writer, Rupert decided to take his discoveries to an extreme. Where in the world, he wondered, do horses and healers combine?
We are in a landscape that could be Montana in the United States , or Britain ’s north Pennines . The light is shifting in that magical way all Britons take for granted, as the sun diffuses through cloud and rain. This is not Britain ; it’s Mongolia . There are eight of us with Rowan: his parents, a guide, a writer and a photographer for this magazine, and a small film crew. The child is in distress again. He is refusing to go near a horse.
Two days earlier he has been subjected to what looks to an outsider like child abuse. He has been whipped by a shaman — an intermediary between the natural and spirit worlds — and force-fed milk, then held under a noisy drum. He recovered to become peaceful, sociable, even giggly. But the refusal to go near a horse is deeply inconvenient.
If you go to www.horseboymovie.com, you will find a version of this story, as told by Rupert. He explains that Mongolia is where the horse evolved and humankind learnt to ride, and where the word shaman, meaning "he who knows", originates. So Rupert’s idea is to ride with Rowan on horseback from healer to healer in Mongolia , and to wash him in sacred waters. The journey is to end in one of the most remote regions on Earth, where the shamans are particularly powerful.
The website does not report that Kristin thought the plan was mad. She went along with it on a "Yes, dear" basis, believing it would never happen. Not only did it happen, but publishers have bought the unwritten book of this trip for sums so high that in some countries it has broken records. There is to be a film, The Horse Boy, and Viking Penguin, the British publisher, is already excited about the "online viral marketing of the story" and trailers on YouTube and MySpace. Eighteen countries will publish the book, even if eastern Europe was not that interested and an editor claimed that in Greece there is no autism. That means they are hidden away in institutions, says Rupert, instantly determined to start a campaign there.
And so we find ourselves on the Mongolian steppe, among nomads who have never hosted tourists, ready to mount the half-wild horses they have lassoed for our journey. Until now Rowan has never spent more than three hours on horseback, but this trip is to last days. His parents express their hopes. Kristin’s secret wish is that one day he’ll find a charming woman who will let him live in eccentricity, as it’s hard to imagine him independent — although easy to think of him making a living with animals. Rupert would love him to tell a lie, revealing a leap in his faculties. For now, each parent has the same desire: he is five and not potty-trained. If the shamans can get him to use a toilet, that would justify everything.
The venture is not as unhinged as it sounds. After being with Rupert for 12 years, Kristin is coming to trust his judgment; sure enough, it turns out there is a theoretical basis for Rowan’s breakthroughs on horseback. The rocking motion, and the constant finding and refinding of balance, is thought to stimulate new brain connections. Leading researchers into autism are following this journey with interest. But the case for these parents is best made by their son. He’s a sweet child, tactile and affectionate, and he is not hard to know. When upset he has the endearing, autistic habit of pulling words out of his memory that might correspond with what he feels, but not with what he’s trying to say. So he’ll scream "giraffe!" at the top of his lungs, or "immigration!" or "Smith!", the name of his old teacher, Miss Smith, when actually he wants to convey that he’s anxious, or has lost a favourite toy. It takes just a day from meeting him to get him giggling in a game. Most impressive of all is his interest in the world — the opposite of the classic idea of autism.
But he’s not giggling now. In fact, the trip starts badly and gets worse. The horses are fit and responsive. But Rowan is nowhere near one. For the first few days, most of the party travels on horseback while the boy, tired and upset, spends his time in the 4x4 support van. Soon his father contemplates having to change the book to The Van Boy. Days later, Rowan is still circumspect about horses: he has come to see them as something his father wants him to do.
Rupert is close to despair. Is he doing this for Rowan or himself? It is a question he has been asking himself throughout the trip. Now he has a fever blister on his lip, a reaction to stress. The lip splits painfully all the way across, attracting flies. But the stress can only deepen. There is a lot at stake, and not just the welfare of his son. The seven-figure book advance has paid for the filming of The Horse Boy, a trust fund for Rowan, and a school in Texas to offer Rowan’s education to others. The school, Big Sky, is to have four or more Betsys as mobile classrooms, each with a felt blanket on her back to use as a blackboard. It will take between nine and 15 children with Rowan’s form of autism, and up to 25 siblings. It is due to open next year, and the plan is to foster replicas around the world, including in Britain . But, after the story of The Horse Boy, will any parent want their child there?
Big Sky is being run by the fourth star in Rowan’s universe: if the first three are his parents, Betsy and ancient healers, then the fourth is his school tutor, Katherine Sainz, whose son has autism similar to Rowan’s. At an old hippie commune in 200 acres of woods, she fits Rowan’s day around his needs. He spends four hours touring the woods with his "shadow", Kamilo, who keeps him safe and uses chance discoveries as an educational tool. When he has run off enough energy to be calm, he goes into the classroom, where Sainz is assisted in lessons by two pigs, two cats and a python. After school, he goes riding with Rupert. Rowan’s reading is at the level of a seven-year-old. His imaginative play might have arrived late, but it is rich.
According to Kristin, this liberal approach means it might take three times as long to change a child’s behaviour. But because the changes come from inside, not outside, they have power. Rupert makes an analogy: if you don’t train a horse to think for itself, you won’t have a champion. You have a horse that can function under certain conditions in a predictable way.
Their son is a happy and adaptable child. But there are limits. Sainz is thousands of miles away. Rowan’s grandparents are thousands of miles away. Everything familiar is far away — except the film crew, the parents, and the unwanted horse.
Rowan suffers an appalling regression and begins behaving in ways not seen since he was 18 months old. He loses his language and starts to babble. He screams uncontrollably at the sound of a cow, assaults a little Mongolian girl, and bites his father. Getting the distressed child to the sacred waters — the "brain spring" — means wrestling him there. And it’s all being recorded on film for The Horse Boy. As the water is dropped onto his head he screams again. But then he starts to laugh, and washing in the spring turns into a game. Suddenly he’s all sweetness.
It’s not all bad. There has been a breakthrough so significant that at the time, before all this distress, Rupert and Kristin felt that perhaps the trip was justified: for the first time in his life, Rowan has a friend. In the past he has managed parallel play, where a child plays next to another of the same age. This is different. Our guide has brought his six-year-old son, Bodibilguun, and — helped by the equality of having no common language for Rowan to fail in — they are playing with swords, hugging, riding together briefly and generally acting like friends. And now that he has recovered, Rowan is obviously happy. He makes up a story about his imaginary friend Buster and a little girl rabbit and Blackie the hippo having an adventure in Mongolia , and it is clear that he is reflecting on the events of the past few days. Such storytelling is new for him. The trip is not a disaster, then. But until now the horses have had little to do with it, and then the journey takes another turn downhill.
With everyone, including Rowan, on horseback to see a shaman no 4x4 can reach, Michel Orion Scott, the film director, falls behind. He has food poisoning. Soon he is on the ground, vomiting and defecating, and while he is prostrate, his horse escapes. Surely this cannot get worse.
For 40 appalling years, medical dogma held that autists had no inner life; or if they did, it could never find expression. One mother changed that. Eustacia Cutler taught her daughter to read, worked with teachers to bring her repeatedly out of her own universe, and searched ceaselessly for the keys to a meaningful future. The girl seemed destined for an institution: even her father expected it. But the daughter, Temple Grandin , is now a professor of animal sciences and a star on the autism circuit. She has used her visual powers, and a rapport with cows, to design a third of all the livestock-handling facilities in the US, reducing the anxiety of cattle — and thus helping the meat industry — with innovations that to her seem obvious. Perhaps Rowan’s future is similar.
There was no single breakthrough in Grandin’s life; she grew through a series of incremental improvements. "There was no magic; there was just doing the best I could," says her mother. "That’s the point; that’s the talisman."
It’s the same story here. Autism is not really a spectrum: it’s a constellation of individuals, and what works for one might have no effect on another. "The experts don’t know what to tell you," says Kristin, who is one herself. "The best you can hope for is to find another parent with a kid with some features similar to your kid, and try everything." In the end, many parental decisions are instinct, and you do the best you can.
Somewhere out in cyberspace, the website for The Horse Boy, written before we set off, has a bolder, more reckless prediction. Under the heading What Results Do We Expect?, it says: "Rowan has already reacted radically well to exposure to horses and shamanistic ceremony" With the prolonged exposure to both, we can expect to see radical improvement and recovery on camera of an autistic child’s mind opening up to consciousness. For an audience to go on this miraculous journey will make for a rare and truly magical experience of film-viewing."
This looks unlikely. But then it happens. Michel, the horseless film director, comes staggering into camp, and resumes his vomiting so loudly that Rowan is arrested in his play. The five-year-old stands up and asks the first "why" question of his life. Michel, why are you spitting on it? Knowing the significance, Michel croaks heroically for someone to get a camera. Then Rupert makes a fire, and Rowan asks his first "how" question. Daddy, how do you make fire? Two more horses disappear, making three horses gone, but nobody cares. Within days of making his first friend, and hours after getting onto a horse, Rowan is making verbal breakthroughs.
That just leaves his parents’ dearest wish: an end to their days of scrubbing underwear. Rowan does not use nappies: he dumps straight into his pants, either standing on his toes or lying down. Rupert and Kristin then wash and change him.
I have promised not to describe the encounter with the final shaman; for that, you must wait for the film. But I can tell you this. The following evening, on a sandbank, Rowan makes the funny little movements that indicate a poo, but this time there is something new: he is holding it. And his father says: "Go on Rowan, take a squat." The entire group calls encouragement. Even Bodibilguun, the six-year-old, gets down to show him what to do. Rowan looks at everyone, ignores them, goes to a further sandbank, then bends his knees and delivers as if he were potty-trained, before scooping up water and cleaning himself. Rupert and Kristin are ecstatic. For the first time in their lives, they have a continent son.
Rowan’s meeting with Betsy was chance, and it was chance that Rupert knew how to take advantage. The father used Betsy for everything: language, maths, social scripts such as thanking the horse afterwards. "I had the time," Rupert says. "I wasn’t trying to push him to one side because I was trying to get a bit of work done,
or because I didn’t want to read him that f***ing story about Mr Men for the 400th time. I was enjoying myself with him; instead of being upset I had this autistic child that I couldn’t reach. I could reach him. And so I felt very fulfilled as a dad."
My last sight of his son is at a house in Berkshire where he is staying with family friends. I say my goodbyes. "Rowan, give Tim a hug," say his parents. I’m nothing to him, really; just a background observer who talks a lot to his parents. But he turns his back on the television without protest, puts his head over my shoulder and his cheek next to mine, and with his hands around my neck and back, we squeeze. For one who faces a life of "extreme autistic loneliness", the touch of those 10 tender fingers are a cause for hope. Would language have come to him anyway? Was he always going to learn how to make a friend? Who can say? All you can know is that, for this child, a liberal, eccentric, deeply loving regime centred on horses seems to be the best therapy possible. We have escaped the dark ages of the 1950s, when autism was blamed on the rejections of a "refrigerator mother" and the child simply hidden away. But we still understand so little. One day we will come out of autism’s medieval period; perhaps the story of The Horse Boy will be a milestone on our way.
From ASO.
  
  
  
>From: "Margaret Spoelstra" <marg@autismontario.com>
>To: <info@autismontario.com>
>Subject: Deadline extension of Summer Camp Support Fund
>Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:14:47 -0400
>  
>   <http://www.autismontario.com/summercamp>
>  
>  
>  
>Please note - the deadline for submitting documentation for Autism
> Ontario 's 2007 Summer Camp Support Fund has been extended until the
 end
>of September. We hope that an additional two weeks will reduce anxiety
>about getting paperwork together by the original deadline. If you have
>any questions please contact Ginny Kontosic at 416-246-9592 x225 or by
>email ginny@autismontario.com
>  
>  
>  
>If the above image does not appear in your email - go to the main page
>of the Autism Ontario website www.autismontario.com
><http://www.autismontario.com/>
>  
>  
>  
>Kindly forward this note to any interested parents or professionals.
>  
>  
>  
>Thank
you.
>  
>  
>  
>Marg
>  
>
And from

Ontario Autism Coalition


The Autism Election Issue #1
September 13, 2007
Please Distribute To All Lists

Contents:

  1. Changes and Updates to Day of Action Activities
  2. Video and Press Coverage of OAC Election Activities
  3. Day of Action Times and Locations

1. Changes and Updates to Day of Action Activities

Note the following changes since our last mailing:
  • A change in the time of the Windsor and Essex events to 10:00am due to popular requests.
  • A change in the contact phone number for the hosts of the Sarnia event to Susan Fentie (519)466-2288 or Dan Fentie (519)670-4608.
  • A change in the location for the Sarnia event to Minister Caroline DiCocco's campaign office at London Road & Afton Drive (behind the Starbucks).
  • The addition of an event in Hamilton at MPP Judy Marsales office at 1070 Main Street West .

Please see below for a complete list of locations and times.

2. Video and Press Coverage of OAC Election Activities

The OAC has been actively participating in the Ontario Election by attending events, educating the public and political figures, and helping to ensure that Autism issues stay top of mind generally. Here is some of what we have been up to:

3. Updated Times and Locations for the Autism Day of Action

The Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC) is declaring Saturday, September 15th 2007 as a Day of Action for Autism and is inviting you to join us at one of the several elected MPP riding offices in Ottawa, North Toronto, Toronto, Windsor, Essex, and Sarnia where events will be taking place throughout the day to bring awareness to the autism crisis in Ontario.
Each of us know the challenges we face in attempting to secure appropriate publicly funded programs and services for our children with autism. If we want this situation to change, we must be the change. Make an effort to join us at one of the riding offices listed below. Our message will be stronger when our voices unite. This is our opportunity to bring attention to the autism issues and this opportunity will only return four years from now in the next election campaign. Now is the time for action.
Let's believe that together we can make the necessary change for appropriate publicly funded autism programs and services in Ontario . Please join us at one of the following locations:

Ottawa


Premier Dalton McGuinty's office
1795 Kilborn Av
Ottawa ON K1H 6N1
Tel :613-736-9573
Fax :613-736-7374
dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Time: 11:00am to 1:00pm
Contact OAC Executive Member, Sam Yassine for more information:
613-841-3886
Sam_yassine@rogers.com

North Toronto


Greg Sorbara's office (Minister of Finance)
Unit AU8- 140 Woodbridge Ave
Woodbridge ON L4L 4K9
Tel :905-851-0440
Fax :905-851-0210
gsorbara.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Time: 1:00 - 3:00 PM
Contact OAC Executive Member, Sharon Gabison for more information:
647-892-4418
shar.gabison@utoronto.ca

Toronto

Kathleen Wynne's office (Minister of Education)
146 Laird Dr, Suite 101
Toronto ON M4G 3V7
Tel :416-425-6777
Fax :416-425-0350
kwynne.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Time: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Contact OAC Executive Member, Malcolm Stanley for more information:
416-275-3562
amstanley@rogers.com

Windsor


Sandra Pupatello's office (Minister of Economic Development and Trade)
1483 Ouellette Ave
Windsor ON N8X 1K1
Tel : 519-977-7191
Fax :519-977-7029
spupatello.mpp@liberal.ola.org
Time: 10:00 AM
Contact OAC Executive Member, Mary Beth Rocheleau for more information:
519-734-6387
grocheleau6@hotmail.com

Essex


Bruce Crozier (Deputy Speaker)
78 Talbot St N
Essex ON N8M 1A2
Tel :519-776-6420
Fax :519-776-5763
bcrozier.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Time: 10:00AM
Contact OAC Executive Member, Mary Beth Rocheleau for more information:
519-734-6387
grocheleau6@hotmail.com

Sarnia


Caroline DiCocco (Minister of Culture)
Campaign Office
London Road & Afton Drive
(behind the Starbucks)
Tel :519-337-0051
Fax :519-337-3246
cdicocco.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Time: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Contact OAC Executive Members Susan Fentie (519)466-2288 or Dan Fentie (519)670-4608 for more information
autism@coolgoose.com
Hamilton
Judy Marsales MPP
1070 Main Street West
Hamilton , On
Time: 10 Am
Contact OAC Member Rosalynn Knecht for more information:
289-396-0773
knecht.r@hotmail.com
From Autism Ontario
  
>  
>  
>  
>New at www.autismontario.com <http://www.autismontario.com/>
>  
>The Summer Camp Section has been updated to reflect the extension in 
>deadline. Additionally, the FAQs have been revised.
>  
>Also, stay tuned for a special section of election information. This 
>section will be added in the next few
days.
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>Multi-Party Debate on Poverty and Disability
>  
>In an effort to provide a forum for persons with disabilities to raise
 
>their issues in the Ontario election campaign, ARCH Disability Law
 Centre 
>is co-sponsoring a multi-party debate on POVERTY AND DISABILITY.
>  
>  
>  
>The debate will be held
on:
>  
>  
>  
>Tuesday, September 18, 2007
>  
>7:00 to 9:00 p.m. (Doors open at 6:00 p.m.)
>  
> Old Victoria College , University of Toronto
>  
>  
>  
>Further details are contained in the attached flyers.  Please
 distribute
>widely.
>  
>  
>  
>See you there!
>  
>Theresa Sciberras
>Program Assistant
>ARCH Disability Law Centre
> 425 Bloor St. E. Ste. 110
> Toronto , Ontario M4W 3R5
>Tel.: 416-482-8255 Toll-free: 1-866-482-2724
>Fax: 416-482-2981 Toll-free: 1-866-881-2723
>TTY: 416-482-1254 Toll-free:
1-866-482-2728
>E-mail: scibert@lao.on.ca
>Website: www.archdisabilitylaw.ca <http://www.archdisabilitylaw.ca/>
>  
>  
>  
>News about respiteservices.com
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>  
>  
>  
>September
6, 2007
>  
>  
>  
>Ontario Communities Launch respiteservices.com
>  
>  
>  
>  
> Toronto -  What was initially a service feature offered only in one
 city is 
>now being replicated across the province so families in Ontario can
 have 
>better access to respite services through respiteservices.com 
><http://www.respiteservices.com/> .
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>Representatives from communities across Ontario are gathering at
 Courtyard 
>Marriott in downtown Toronto today, starting at 11am until 2pm, to
 launch
>respiteservices.com.
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>respiteservices.com provincial website (www.respiteservices.com) helps
 
>families, caring for individuals with a disability, to easily access 
>respite workers and services within their local community.  "I think
 it is 
>very helpful to have a central resource to find out about respite
 options 
>in my community and have the option to use a respite worker bank
 should I
>need to hire my own worker", says a parent caring for a child with
 special 
>needs.
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>respiteservices.com is hosted by Geneva Centre for Autism 
><http://www.autism.net/>  and was created as an interagency
 collaborative 
>project involving representatives from the Developmental and
 Children's 
>Service Systems in Toronto .  The program has evolved into a provincial
 
>initiative.
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>"respiteservices.com is an excellent example of a local service
 feature 
>that is a result of an active and ongoing collaborative process that
 is now 
>being shared by many communities across Ontario ", says Tatjana
 Smrekar, 
>Project Manager of respiteservices.com.    "respiteservices.com
allows
 
>families to access respite in the place they live in and in any place 
>within Ontario that they go to for reasons such as vacation or
 relocation", 
>she adds.
>  
>  
>  
>  
>This launch has been a result of local communities and organizations 
>working together, with the support of the Ministry of Finance,
 Ministry of 
>Community and Social Services and the Ministry of Children and Youth 
>Services, to improve local respite services
by making them more
 accessible, 
>better coordinated and more responsive to families caring for
 individuals 
>with developmental disabilities.
>  
>-30-
>  
>Contact:
>  
>Tatjana Smrekar
>  
>Project Manager, respiteservices.com
>  
> Geneva Centre for Autism
>  
>416 322 7877 ext. 292 or cell at
416-540-2455
>  
>tsmrekar@respiteservices.com
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>Deadline Extension - Public Review of the Initial Proposed
 Accessibility 
>Transportation Standard
>Date-limite de participation à l'examen public de la proposition
de
 norme 
>initiale d'accessibilité pour le transport
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>The following are English and French versions of a letter.
>For inquiries please contact us at accessibility.css@ontario.ca 
>accessibility.css@ontario.ca>  or
call:
>         - Toll Free: 1-888-520-5828
>         - Toll Free TTY: 1-888-335-6611
>  
>Le présent message comprend les versions en français et en anglais
 d'une 
>lettre.
>Pour obtenir des renseignements veillez communiquer avec nous à : 
>accessibility.css@ontario.ca accessibility.css@ontario.ca>  ou
 
>composer l'un des numéros suivants :
>         -  numéro sans frais : 1 888 520-5828
>         -  numéro ATS sans frais : 1 888
335-6611
>  
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  
>During the course of the Public Review period for the Initial Proposed
 
>Transportation Standard the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario
 received a 
>number of requests to extend the public review comment period on the 
>Initial Proposed Standard. In addition, a number of groups have
 suggested
>that a Reading Guide be developed to help support public review of the
 
>proposed standard.
>  
>This notice is to inform you that the deadline to review and make
 comments 
>on the Initial Proposed Transportation Standard has been extended to 
>September 28, 2007. In addition a Reading Guide will be made available
 
>shortly to assist readers in understanding how the SDC's Initial
 Proposed 
>Standard is organized.
>  
>To review the new Reading Guide (once posted), the Initial Proposed
>Transportation Standard, and to provide feedback, visit the Ministry
 of 
>Community and Social Services' website at:
>  
>English:
>http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/english/pillars/accessibilityOntario/accesson/business/transportation/standard/index.htm 
><http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/english/pillars/accessibilityOntario/accesson/business/transportation/standard/index.htm>
>  
>French:
>http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/french/pillars/accessibilityOntario/accesson/business/transportation/standard/index 
><http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/french/pillars/accessibilityOntario/accesson/business/transportation/standard/index>
>  
>As mentioned in our notice on August 8, 2007, the public
review
 process has 
>been simplified by providing you with four options on submitting
 feedback. 
>Input from stakeholders will be of great value when the committee
 finalizes 
>this proposed standard.
>  
>For additional information or to find out about alternate methods of 
>providing feedback, please call 1-888-789-4199 or toll-free TTY 
>1-888-335-6611.
>  
>If you require assistance to participate in this activity, please do
 not 
>hesitate to
call.
>  
>Thank You.
>  
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  
>Au cours de la période du processus de l'examen public de la
 proposition de 
>norme initiale d'accessibilité pour le transport, la Direction
 générale de 
>l'accessibilité pour l'Ontario a reçu un nombre de demandes pour
 prolonger 
>cette période d'examen
public. En outre, bon nombre de groupes ont
 suggéré 
>que le Guide de lecture soit élaboré dans le but d'aider à prendre 
>connaissance de la proposition de norme initiale pour la comprendre.
>  
>Ce courriel sert à vous rappeler que la date limite pour réviser et
 nous 
>faire part de vos commentaires sur la proposition de norme initiale 
>d'accessibilité pour le transport a été prolongé jusqu'au 28
septembre
 
>2007. De plus, le guide de lecture sera disponible très bientôt pour
 aider 
>les lecteurs à comprendre comment le Comité d'élaboration des normes 
>initiales d'accessibilité est structuré.
>  
>Pour prendre connaissance du Guide de lecture de la proposition de
 norme 
>initiale d'accessibilité pour le transport (lorsqu'il sera publié sur
>l'Internet), et nous dire ce que vous en pensez, veuillez visiter le
 site 
>du ministère des Services sociaux et communautaires à l'une des
 adresses 
>suivantes :
>  
>Site français :
>http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/french/pillars/accessibilityOntario/accesson/business/transportation/standard/index 
><http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/french/pillars/accessibilityOntario/accesson/business/transportation/standard/index>
>  
>Site anglais :
>http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/english/pillars/accessibilityOntario/accesson/business/transportation/standard/index.htm 
><http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/english/pillars/accessibilityOntario/accesson/business/transportation/standard/index.htm>
>  
>Tel qu'indiqué dans notre note du 8 août 2007, le processus d'examen
 public 
>a été
simplifié en vous fournissant quatre façons de nous faire part
 de vos 
>commentaires. Les commentaires des personnes intéressées seront d'une 
>grande utilité au Comité d'élaboration des normes d'accessibilité pour
 le 
>transport lorsqu'il finalisera sa proposition de norme.
>  
>Pour de plus amples renseignements, et notamment pour connaître les
 autres 
>moyens de nous
faire part de vos commentaires, veuillez appeler le 1
 888 
>789-4199 ou, par ATS sans frais, le 1 888 335-6611.
>  
>Si vous avez besoin d'aide pour participer à cet examen, n'hésitez pas
 à 
>communiquer avec nous.
>  
>Merci bien.
>  
>  
>  
>Fifteen things about
me
>  
>This is a letter to your child's teacher.  It will help your child
 adjust 
>to a new classroom and make the teacher's life easy too.  Download and
 
>print this free document now.
>  
>http://www.nlconcepts.com/autism-teacherletter.htm
>  
>  
>  
>*We wish your child a successful year, surrounded by people who
 believe and 
>who
care!*
>  
>  
>  
>Natural Learning Concepts
>  
>http://www.nlconcepts.com
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>Autism Today Conference Information
>  
>A versatile man in the research and treatment of autism spectrum
 disorder, 
>he has published landmark studies with regard to the role of
mercury
>  
> Jeffrey Bradstreet , MD , FAAFP, has treated more kids with autism than
 any 
>other doctor!!!!!   (1 of speakers)
>  
>Dr. Bradstreet, MD, FAAFP is founder of and a treating physician at
 the 
> International Child Development Resource Center in Florida , adjunct 
>professor of
nutritional neuroscience and child development at
 Southwest 
> College of Naturopathic Medicine , adjunct professor of neurosciences
 at 
> Stetson University , and a clinical consultant to the University of 
>California Davis MIND Institute.
>  
>Measles virus in autism, such as A Case Control Study of Mercury
 Burden in 
>Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, published in the Journal of

>American Physicians and Surgeons, as well as speaking before Congress
 and 
>the Institute of Medicine . His 11-year old son, Matthew, is recovering
 from 
>autism. Dr. Bradstreet is the founder of a special school for children
 with 
>autism that encompasses biological, behavioral, sensory, and auditory
 and 
>speech therapies into a combined program.
>  
>  
>  
>Thank
you
>  
>Susan Ryan
>  
>autismtoday.com
>  
>1-877-482-1555
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>Picture Exchange Communication System ( PECS ) Training
>  
>Date: November 7 & 8, 2007
>  
>Location: St. Catharines , ON (Holiday Inn, 2 North Service Road )
>  
>Description: This intense two-day training is designed to teach 
>participants to appropriately implement the Picture Exchange
 Communication 
>System. Participants will learn how to implement the six Phases of
 PECS , 
>including attributes, through presenter demonstrations, video examples
 and 
>role-play opportunities. Participants will leave the workshop with a 
>fundamental understanding of how to implement PECS with individuals

with 
>autism, related developmental disabilities, and/or limited
 communication 
>skills.
>  
>For more information contact: 416-546-PECS (7327);
 pyramid@pecs-canada.com; 
>www.pecs-canada.com
>  
>  
>  
>I've attached the Workshop Brochure and Registration Form to be linked
 to 
>the above
description.
>  
>  
>  
>Thanks for all your help.
>  
>  
>Julie Koudys, M.A.
>Corporate Director
>Pyramid Educational Consultants of Canada, Inc.
> 2274-B Lawrence Ave. W
> Etobicoke , ON M9P 2A6
>Phone: 416-546-PECS (7327)
>Fax: 416-546-PEC1
(7321)
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>Disclaimer:  It is important to do your own research and make your own
 
>informed decisions. Please note Autism Ontario does not endorse any 
>specific therapy, product, treatment, strategy, opinions, service, or 
>individual. We do, however, endorse your right to information.
>  
>
From a listmate.

OAC prepares for their Day of Action

Friday, September 14, 2007 -- Jason Thompson
As the provincial elections campaign heats up, the Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC) is hosting a Day of Action Sept. 15 to ensure candidates of all political stripes are aware of the needs of children with autism.
Day of Action events are being held at Liberal Party candidate campaign headquarters in seven ridings including Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office in Ottawa . Sam Yassine, an executive member with the OAC says he has extended Day of Action invitations to candidates of every political party.
The OAC has tabled three issues they would like to see all political parties commit to:
- Allow Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) instructor therapists currently working within the Autism Intervention Program (AIP) entry into the school system so that scientifically valid, supervised Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) can be implemented. The OAC says children receiving intensive ABA through the AIP and students attending school should receive the same quality of ABA services.
- Eliminate the waitlist in the AIP and fully fund services for all children with autism regardless of the severity of their condition
- Develop a formal credentialing system and a proper training and recruitment system for the implementation of ABA to ensure accountability and capacity within the system
“We’re looking for a government with a leader we can count on,” Yassine says. “It’s very important to us that all political leaders and any future government whether it is NDP, PC or Liberal to learn that there is consequences for breaking promises to parents of children with autism and they cannot get away with it
“The way Dalton McGuinty handled the autism file over the past four years was a disgrace,” he says.
Yassine says McGuinty’s actions have made him wary of hasty pre-election promises that could end up being broken.
According to an OAC news release, the current provincial government has failed children with autism by denying them full and immediate access to ABA/IBI within the school system.
The OAC says this has resulted in a growing waitlist that is now in excess of 1,000 children meaning parents have no option but to go into financial hardship in order to provide this necessary therapy for their children.
“It’s not against the Liberal Party, it’s all about accountability,” Yassine says. “We’re going to hold you accountable so whatever you’re committing today, you have to do once you win the election.”
Here’s a list of Day of Action events scheduled for Sept. 15:
- Ottawa , Premier Dalton McGuinty's office 1795 Kilborn Ave. , 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Contact OAC executive member, Sam Yassine for more information at 613-841-3886 or sam_yassine@rogers.com
- North Toronto, Greg Sorbara's office (Minister of Finance) Unit AU8- 140 Woodbridge Ave.,
1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Contact OAC executive member Sharon Gabison for more information at 647-892-4418 or shar.gabison@utoronto.ca
- Toronto , Kathleen Wynne's office (Minister of Education) 146 Laird Dr. Suite 101, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Contact OAC executive member Malcolm Stanley for more information at 416-275-3562 or amstanley@rogers.com
- Windsor , Sandra Pupatello's office (Minister of Economic Development and Trade) 1483 Ouellette Ave., 10 a.m.
Contact OAC executive member Mary Beth Rocheleau for more information at 519-734-6387 or grocheleau6@hotmail.com
- Essex, Bruce Crozier (Deputy Speaker) 78 Talbot St N. Essex ON N8M 1A2 , 10 a.m.
Contact OAC executive member Mary Beth Rocheleau for more information at 519-734-6387 or grocheleau6@hotmail.com
- Sarnia , Caroline DiCocco (Minister of Culture) London Rd. & Afton Dr. (behind the Starbucks)
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Contact OAC executive members Susan Fentie at 519-466-2288 or Dan Fentie at 519-670-4608, autism@coolgoose.com
- Hamilton, Judy Marsales MPP 1070 Main Street West , 10 a.m.
Contact OAC member Rosalynn Knecht for more information at 289-396-0773 or knecht.r@hotmail.com
From Autism CANADA
Visit www.autismcanada.org to register for
Autism: A Medical Condition
Saturday, September 29, 2007
University of Ottawa
51 Smyth Road
Roger Guindon Building

Featuring Dr. Martha Herbert, Dr. Derrick MacFabe and Dr. Wendy Edwards

Autism Canada Foundation invites you to discover why and how biomedical issues may have an impact on the physical, behavioural and cognitive health of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Attendees will learn about current promising research and what the next steps are in the new autism paradigm.
Presentations are geared towards parents, medical professionals, basic research scientists, agencies, school personnel and others dedicated to improving the quality of life for those on the Autism Spectrum.
If you are in need of financial assistance to attend please contact Laurie Mawlam (519)695-5858
All attendees will receive a free copy of the DVD documentary Autism - There's Hope Out There

Dr Martha HerbertDr. Martha Herbert, MD, PhD

Dr. Martha Herbert is currently an Assistant Professor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School and an Assistant in Neurology (Pediatrics) at McLean Hospital in Belmont Massachusetts . She has published more than 25 peer reviewed journal articles in such prestigious medical journals as American Journal of Psychiatry, Brain, Biological Psychiatry, and Annals of Neurology. Dr. Herbert has also been invited to give numerous presentations concerning the Neurobiology of Autism. She can be considered one of the current stars in the field of Autism Research.

Dr Derrick F MacFabe MDDr. Derrick MacFabe, MD

Dr. Derrick MacFabe is Assistant Professor and Director of the Kilee Patchell- Evans Autism Research Group, Depts. of Psychology (Neuroscience) & Psychiatry (Division of Developmental Disabilities) at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario , London , Ontario . He is examining the role of genetics, biochemistry and environment on the identification and possible treatments of autism spectrum disorders. Dr. MacFabe's research has recently been awarded one of the "Top 50 Scientific Discoveries in Canada " by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada .

Dr. Wendy Edwards, MD

Dr. Edwards is a Consulting Pediatrician working in Chatham-Kent , Ontario . She completed her pediatric residency in Toronto , at the Hospital for Sick Children, where she was chosen to act as chief resident in her final year. Dr. Edwards' own son was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. He is now fully verbal, with a wonderful sense of humor and lots of friends. He graduated last June from Grade One at the top of his class with no Educational Assistant or special curriculum.
Please forward the following notice to anyone who might be interested in attending.
For workshop details click here: http://www.afase.com/Workshop.html
Click here to register: http://www.afase.com/Workshop_Registration.html
AFASE at school
Presents
Advocating For Appropriate Special Education 113

Saturday, September 22, 2007
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

This full-day workshop is designed to empower you by providing current special education
information, strategies, and skills that will enable you to advocate for appropriate special education
programs and services in a way that is both assertive and collaborative

Audience: Parents, Students, Teachers, Educational Assistants, and Community Organizations
Lindsay Moir who is retired from the Ministry of Education is considered to be an expert in special
education issues. He will present an interactive, discussion-based workshop on Current Issues in
Special Education.

Karen Robinson the owner of AFASE at School will present Special Education Advocacy:
Everything you Should Know. Topics include: The Rules of Advocacy, The Special Education
Program, IPRC's and the Appeal Process, The good IEP, Writing Measurable Goals and Expectations,
and Writing Needs Statements.

Each presentation will allow time for Q & A

Coffee and pastries, and a light lunch will be provided
Vaughan Police Station
Community Meeting Room
2700 Rutherford Rd.
Vaughan, Ontario
General area: North of Hwy 407, East of Hwy 400
N/W corner of Rutherford Rd. and Melville Ave.

SPACE IS LIMITED - REGISTER EARLY TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT

*Early bird rate: $80.00
*At the door: $100.00

To register use the registration form using this link
http://www.afase.com/Workshop_Registration.html
or e-mail: karen.robinson@afase.com
or phone: 905-427-7524

*Fee includes refreshments and handouts for each presentation
From a listmate
“These powerful heart-rending stories are
filled with honesty, humor, hope and offer
inspiration to parents, teachers, and anyone
else who cares for children with special needs.”
Gerald G. Jompalsky, M.D.
Offering encouragement and insight to anyone whose child faces
extraordinary challenges.
September 6, 2007. Lynn Skotnitsky of Vancouver , BC (formerly of Toronto and
Winnipeg) wrote an original short story that has been published in the newly
released Chicken Soup for the Soul: Children with Special Needs, one of the
most anticipated books in the #1 NY Times best selling Chicken Soup for the
Soul® series. This book contains truly remarkable, inspiring stories of support,
understanding and triumph that tug at the heartstrings of anyone who reads
them.
In “Ace of Hearts” one disheartened, frustrated mom receives a very large, longterm
dose of encouragement from her son Eric, who has autism. The bond they
share inspires her every single day as she continues to advocate and to educate
others to see past the labels to each person’s gifts and uniqueness.
It was selected from thousands of other potential stories to be included in
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Children with Special Needs because of its ability to
touch hearts.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Children with Special Needs is perfect for every
parent, teacher, caregiver or professional who is participating in watching these
Chicken Soup for the Soul:
Children with Special Needs
Stories of Love and Understanding for
Those Who Care for Children with Disabilities
Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Heather McNamara,
Karen Simmons
An inspiration for families, teachers and
professionals everywhere!
Featuring
“Ace of Hearts”
by local author
Lynn Skotnitsky
children grow. This book should be shared with any person to remind them of the
profound role they will forever play in their child's life.
Lynn Skotnitsky, M.A., F.M.B. is a client-centered coach and consultant with
twenty years' experience facilitating planning and development for individuals,
organizations, and communities. She has volunteered on various nonprofit
boards and is an advocate for diversity, licensed childcare and inclusive
education. Eric, whom experts said would likely never talk, is now in Grade 6
French Immersion, and makes public presentations, most recently at York
University. An inclusive child-care center where Eric had early opportunities to
develop social skills with peers made the most significant difference for his
outcomes. Contact them at lynn.skotnitsky@rogers.com or 778-327-9641.
To purchase a copy please go to http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Soup-Soul-
Understanding-Disabilities/dp/0757306209/
# # #
Copyright 1996-2007 Health Communications, Inc. ® • Deerfield Beach , Florida • All Rights Reserved.
Google alert
Opposition leaders attack McGuinty's credibility
Lee Greenberg
CanWest News Service

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
OTTAWA - Ontario 's opposition leaders maintained their attack on Dalton McGuinty's credibility Tuesday - the same day the Liberal premier literally sidestepped the faith-based school's issue by ignoring his Catholic alma mater in favour of a secular public school.
Asked about the decision, which comes during a campaign centred on the school funding issue, McGuinty downplayed his choice.
"I've visited many Catholic schools during my (mandate)," he said in French, adding that the campaign "has just started."
McGuinty recently called faith-based schools segregationist and suggested they could have a negative impact on social cohesion, despite being a product of a faith-based school himself.
In campaign stops around the Greater Toronto Area Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory hammered the premier over his ill-fated promise not to hike taxes if elected. NDP_Leader Howard Hampton also accused McGuinty of failing to help children with autism, while also challenging his counterparts to debate him on northern Ontario issues, in a northern Ontario community.
Proponents of religious school funding saw McGuinty's choice on Tuesday to visit Charles H. Hulse Public School as significant.
The school is within spitting distance of McGuinty's Catholic high school, St. Patrick's.
"We note with interest that two doors down, there's a Catholic school that is fully supported by the government of Ontario ," Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress said.
"St. Patrick's High school serves as a model of how we can integrate other faith based schools into our public education system."
Farber and others have labelled McGuinty a hypocrite for excluding Catholic facilities from his attack on faith-based schools.
McGuinty, his wife Terri and the couple's four kids all attended schools in the Catholic system. Terri still teaches part-time in a Catholic board.
His opponents complain the premier's position focuses only on other religious schools and not those run by the Catholic board.
"He's said in not so many words that the Catholic community can be trusted not to cause social unrest and not to be segregationist while all other faith communities cannot," Farber last week.
Public school funding is a focal point for election interest in Ontario , where voters will go to the polls Oct. 10.
Ontario has long-funded only Catholic schools and none of any other religions, an arrangement that dates back to Confederation.
Tory reignited a long-simmering debate when he promised to extend full funding to all religious schools. The policy corrects what he believes is an unfair system.
McGuinty, who as opposition leader held much the same position as Tory but has since changed course, on Tuesday dismissed any thought of dismantling the current arrangement.
Tuesday also marked the fourth anniversary of McGuinty signing a pledge drafted by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) stating he would "not raise taxes or implement new taxes without the explicit consent of Ontario voters."
After he was elected, his Liberal government introduced the Ontario health premium, which costs middle-class residents an average of $750 annually.
"Dalton McGuinty not only broke his promise not to raise taxes, he shattered it beyond any recognition," Tory told reporters at a Toronto press conference on Tuesday morning.
Tory noted the Liberal leader also pledged not to run a deficit, but government did just that during their first two years in office.
"If you held a competition and invited all the best screenwriters, conspiracy theorists, filmmakers - everybody - and asked them to dream up the stereotypical scandal of a politician breaking his promises and eroding the public trust, you would be hard pressed to come up with something worse than the McGuinty health tax," Tory said.
John Williamson, CTF president, on Monday presented Tory with a framed original copy of Mr. McGuinty's pledge.
"I think a lot of people - our group included - have branded the premier a liar," Williamson said.
Tory himself has refused to refer to his Liberal rival as a "liar," instead saying McGuinty "broke many, many promises" and "failed to keep his word."
But Liberals were quick to condemn Williamson's choice of words. Greg Sorbara, the finance minister and liberal campaign's chairman, said he was "saddened by the quality of the rhetoric."
"When a party and a campaign go exclusively negative, it usually means they're in a freefall," Sorbara said in an interview.
But Tory remained focused on the health tax throughout the day, devoting a substantial portion of a speech to business people in Oakville to the same issue.
Tory's message is being reinforced in attack ads the Conservatives began airing on Tuesday on television stations across the province.
Built around the theme "Promises made, promises broken," the four 30-second ads focus on commitments McGuinty has failed to keep in relation to crime, the environment, taxes and the treatment of autistic children.
New Democratic Partly Leader Howard Hampton picked up on the issues of services for children with autism on Tuesday.
But Hampton remained vague about the Ontario NDP's own financial plans for helping the needy group.
"We'll be laying out exactly how we're going to approach this issue in some detail in a couple days," Hampton said. "I'll be happy to lay it out in a couple days. Along with some other educational services that are interlinked and interwoven."
Hampton made the comments at a Richmond Hill , Ont. centre for children with autism and special needs called Leaps and Bounds.
The parents of autistic children took the McGuinty government to court in 2003 over a broken election promise to fund what is known as intensive behaviour intervention (IBI) for autistic children over six years of age. They won that initial decision, but the province appealed, arguing the intensive one-on-one process works best for children under age six and that other forms of treatment work better for older children.
In July 2006, the government won the appeal, and earlier this year the Supreme Court of Canada announced it would not hear their appeal case.
Although the McGuinty government has since eliminated the age cutoff, Hampton said the Ontario NDP has discovered - after much trouble - that it cost the government $2.4 million in legal fees to fight the families in court.
"We want to quantify that for you. $2.4 million would've provided IBI treatment for 50 children," said Hampton .
At a later campaign stop in Sudbury he challenged his counterparts to a debate on northern issues.
"Let's give them a chance," said Hampton standing outside the Club Age D'Or centre for seniors in Sudbury on Tuesday afternoon. "I'm going to continue to raise the issues of northern Ontario . If Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Tory aren't up to it, I think what it indicates is they don't take the challenges that Northern Ontario faces very seriously."
Hampton, a native of the northwestern Ontario community of Fort Frances , said that throwing down the gauntlet was necessary due to the severity of the problems faced by northern Ontario such as doctor shortages, lack of long-term care, an inadequate level of children's services, major job losses and the migration of workers elsewhere.
- with files from Dalson Chen ( Windsor Star) and James Cowan ( National Post)
Google Alert

Tory sounds like a broken record

Broken promises, in general, do not endear political parties to voters. In fact, they are quite rightly considered to be bad policy, but they do not necessarily lose elections. Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory would do well to heed that.
Tory is trying to make Premier Dalton McGuinty's record of broken promises - and it is an impressive record - the centrepiece of his campaign. While the PCs would do well to make McGuinty's record well known during the campaign, voters have had four years to make up their minds about McGuinty, and Tory's constant blathering about it won't change much. He's been harping on it for some time, but the polls haven't bounced his way.
- Sudbury Star
Google alert
The star.com
TV election ads feature all Dalton , all the time TheStar.com - Ontario Election - TV election ads feature all Dalton, all the time
In the campaign, there are three men leading the main parties. But in the partisan ad world, so far, there is only one face front and centre – McGuinty
September 15, 2007
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau Chief

All three major political parties agree on one thing: Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty is the advertising face of the Oct. 10 election campaign. In an unusual coincidence, the first campaign commercials by the Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, and New Democrats are dominated by McGuinty's mug.
That the Liberals would want to highlight their leader is not surprising – they unveiled a hagiographic website, dalton.ca, months ago and all of their campaign material is centred around him.
But his starring role in Progressive Conservative and New Democratic Party ads – where he is unflatteringly depicted either grimacing or grinning – prove the opposition parties believe he is as much a liability as Liberals think he's an asset.
"Poll numbers have always suggested that the premier lags his party in popularity and this is another reflection of that," says April Lindgren, a Ryerson University associate professor of journalism.
Lindgren, a former Queen's Park reporter who covered the 1999 and 2003 campaigns, says the parties are focusing on McGuinty for their own self-interested reasons.
"It shows you that all three of them think that the campaign is about leadership and personality – more than about issues," she says, stressing these are just the opening salvos.
"You could see this as the first phase of advertising and as they move along, the plan (from the Tories and NDP) may be to introduce their leaders and emphasize their leaders. They get out there and brand McGuinty (now) and then say here's what we're offering as the alternative."
The current Liberal ads boast McGuinty, sporting his trademark red tie, standing at the bottom of what appears to be a school stairway and speaking directly to the camera.
"You know what I love about Ontario 's public schools? They're public! Whatever the race or creed of our kids they attend the same schools together. They learn, play, laugh, and sing together," enthuses the upbeat Liberal leader.
"I believe that taking half-a-billion much-needed dollars from those schools to give to private religious schools is a mistake," he says, referring to Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory's plan to extend funding to other faith-based schools beyond just Catholics.
Given how controversial that policy is – especially to voters demanding one public system with no funding for any religions, including Catholics – the Tories are shifting attention in their ads.
The four commercials now airing province-wide feature a black and white photograph of a pained-looking McGuinty flanked by one of the following slogans: "promised not to raise taxes; promised to close coal burning plants by 2007; promised to support autistic kids; promised responsible spending."
As each "broken promise" scrolls across the screen, a male announcer, speaking over sombre music, intones that McGuinty made campaign pledges in 2003 then quickly abandoned them.
To the sound of shattering glass, each passing broken promise disappears in shards.
Finally, the grim portrait of McGuinty shatters like a mirror and a colour picture of a smiling Tory appears.
" Dalton McGuinty – promises made, promises broken. Ontario doesn't need more broken promises, it needs John Tory because leadership does matter," the announcer concludes.
Thematically identical, but less apocalyptic, the NDP ads sport a colour photo of a smirking McGuinty gradually being covered up by yellow Post-It Notes, each one featuring a broken promise.
"175,000 jobs lost; $450 average health tax; hydro rates up 45 per cent; nine-hour ER wait; 40,000 kids waiting for special education; no standards in nursing homes; 36 per cent tuition fee increase; children with autism denied services; $40,000 pay hike!" read the notes.
Underscoring this, a female announcer points out that "when Dalton McGuinty's Liberals were elected, it didn't take them long to forget the voters who put them in office."
"They forgot working families, they forgot our children, they forgot students and seniors, but they remembered to give themselves a big pay increase," she continues, as downbeat music plays.
" Dalton was hoping his record wouldn't stick to him. You can tell him he's wrong. Don't get mad, get orange. Howard Hampton and Ontario 's NDP."
University of Toronto political science professor Nelson Wiseman notes "for the most part negative ads do work and that's why the parties use them."
"What ads do is they reinforce your pre-existing biases. So if you're a Conservative and you see an add that's attacking McGuinty, you say, `oh yeah, that's good.' And if you're a Liberal, you say, `oh yeah, well, they don't have anything to offer, they're attacking us,'" he says.
But in a tight election, such as the Oct. 10 vote is shaping up to be, an effective advertising blitz can make an impact.
"All we're talking about at the end of the day are four or five percentage points, so that's all you're talking about swinging and that's the difference between a Conservative and a Liberal government," says Wiseman.
Still, he warns that negative ads can sometimes backfire and points to the most notorious example in recent Canadian political history – the federal Tories' attack on then Liberal leader Jean Chrétien's facial deformity.
Then prime minister Kim Campbell's campaign – run, coincidentally, by John Tory – quickly yanked the mocking ads, which showed close-up photos of Chrétien, and inadvertently drove sympathetic voters to the Liberals.
"So they don't always work," says Wiseman.
As might be expected, all three provincial parties take some liberties with the truth in their first spots.
McGuinty's assertion that money would be funnelled from public education to "private religious schools" is dubious. The new faith-based schools would, after all, become part of the public system – just like the Catholic schools McGuinty, his wife, and their four children attended.
The Tories' attack on the Liberals for raising taxes ignores the hidden $5.6 billion deficit that McGuinty inherited from former PC premier Ernie Eves in 2003.
Nor is the NDP exempt from such hypocrisy.
Yes, the NDP caucus opposed the hefty MPP raises McGuinty and Tory together rammed through before Christmas, but all New Democrats received the pay hike; some are donating their newfound largesse to charities in their ridings.So, along with plenty of face-time for McGuinty, viewers may be getting the truth, but not quite the whole truth, in this first round of election advertisements.
From a listmate
Autism coalition plans demonstrations tomorrow
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Regional News
Sep 14, 2007 10:26 AM

By: Michael Power, Staff Writer
The Ontario Autism Coalition is marking tomorrow as a day of action across Ontario to remind the province's political parties of the issue in the run up to the Oct.10 election.
Demonstrations will take place at MPP riding offices across the province, including the GTA.
"In Ontario, the current government has failed children with autism by denying them full and immediate access to (treatment) within the school system," Laura Kirby-McIntosh a member of the coalition's executive, said in a news release, adding there are now more than 1,000 on the waiting list for treatment.
The coalition wants political parties to commit to:
• allowing IBI (intensive Behavioural Intervention) therapists entry into the school system;
• eliminating the wait list and fund services for all children with autism;
• developing a system of credentials and training and recruitment system for those who administer autism therapy.
In York Region, the coalition will hold an event in front of Greg Sorbara's office at Unit AU8-140 Woodbridge Ave. in Woodbridge from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
From a listmate
From a listmate
Getting to know your candidates - York-Simcoe riding
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Newmarket
Sep 14, 2007 09:42 PM
JULIA MUNRO
PC
www.juliamunro.com1-866-706-8676 info@juliamunro.com
Julia Munro doesn’t make a lot of promises, as people have come to expect from politicians.

She makes just one: “To work hard and be accessible.

“Because, at the end of the day, the issues that crop up — you (the resident) have no control over.

“So you are depending on the strength of the individual who represents you,” she said.

Ms Munro, the York-Simcoe PC candidate, said she is not prepared to make promises or tell people something they want to hear to get elected, then fail to follow through.

“It just seems unconscionable you would promise something and not deliver,” she said.

“People vote for what they want to hear,” she said.

“If you can convince the electorate that you can do something faster, that’s what they want to hear and then they become cynical,” when it doesn’t come to fruition.

A member of provincial parliament since 1995, Ms Munro is counting on her experience to help her win.

She has served as a parliamentary assistant to the premier, the ministries of transportation and culture and management board.

She has also been chairperson of the government agencies committee and PC critic for culture and community and social services.
End of mailing.


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