Partnering with the Ontario Community Support Association
Here is our first connection to the leaders of the three Ontario political parties with the aim of influencing what we, and others, see as important issues as the election campaigns get underway.
August 17, 2011
Hon. Dalton McGuinty, MPP
Room 281
Main Legislative Building Leader, Ontario
Queen’s Park
Toronto, ON M7A 1A1
Also sent to:
Mr. Tim Hudak, MPP
Leader, Official Opposition Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Ms. Andrea Horwath, MPP
Leader, New Democratic Party of Ontario
Dear Premier McGuinty:
As a member of the Ontario Community Support Association (OCSA), March of Dimes Canada is an ardent supporter of a comprehensive, affordable home and community service system that is available to all Ontarians regardless of where they live.
We are writing to you to let you know about a new website, www.agingwithdignity.ca, that OCSA member organizations like us are promoting during the 2011 Ontario election. It’s all about engaging Ontarians in a discussion about the future of health care and the place of home and community support within it.
Specifically, we seek your views and your Party’s stand on the following five objectives:
- Ontario needs comprehensive, affordable home and community care services that must be available to all Ontarians regardless of where they live.
- Ontario needs rebalanced healthcare funding so that it better reflects the significant contribution of home and community care.
- Ontario needs expanded research and public education efforts on the essential role of home and community care, and how it benefits the public health care system.
- Ontario’s health care planning needs greater focus on individual and family needs.
- Ontario needs specific plans to address the human resource challenges in home and community care.
Please let us know if you would like more information or have any questions. You can find additional details on the enclosed information sheet.
We look forward to your response.
Andria Spindel
President and Chief Executive Officer
Download the Aging with Dignity Information Sheet.
OFFICIAL RESPONSE FROM ONTARIO LIBERAL LEADER, DALTON McGUINTY
(Scroll down below letter for response details.)
OFFICIAL RESPONSE FROM ONTARIO NDP LEADER, ANDREA HORWATH
OFFICIAL RESPONSE FROM ONTARIO PC PARTY LEADER, TIM HUDAK
Toronto Star Disabilities Reporter, Helen Henderson, features March of Dimes initiative connecting with provincial candidates offices to check on accessibility status. In the article, Manager of Government Relations and Advocacy, Steven Christianson, comments on the findings.
Read the full article: http://www.thestar.com/article/1053540
Let’s put disability on the radar and get this issue into the Televised Leaders Debate later this month.
You can help make a difference.
Take 3 minutes to consider the following. Copy the question below and immediately email it to question@electiondebate2011.ca.
More than 235,000 Ontarians with disabilities live in poverty and 40% are not in the labour force, although many can and want to work. Many cannot afford the basic necessities of life as income assistance rates are more than 40% below the poverty line. Employment supports for people with disabilities are inadequate and spread across five different government departments. What would you do to ensure that Ontarians with disabilities have a fair opportunity to work and receive the assistance they need to break free of poverty?
Email Address: question@electiondebate2011.ca
Background for Your Consideration
People who have a disability comprise upwards of 17% of the Ontario population. People who have a disability are disproportionately excluded from the labour market. Statistics Canada reports that 40% of people with a disability are unemployed – more than six times the national average. This also means that most of these people live in poverty.
What needs to be addressed?
1. Access to Services and Supports
There are many limitations and restrictions that deny access to the necessary services and supports people need to help them get into the workforce. Often, people are refused access to services and supports they need based on the severity of their disability. At other times, service agencies cannot access the right services and supports for job seekers due to restrictive funding models. There is a move toward “generic” employment centres in Ontario. This is a mistake. Generic service models have not been effective in the past and continue to exclude people with a disability from the workforce.
2. Investing in Services and Supports that will help people who have a disability get into the workforce.
Last year the Ontario government spent more than $3.3 billion dollars on ODSP Income Support for this segment of the population. At the same time, the government spent about $35 million dollars on ODSP Employment Supports to help these people get back into the workforce. If we want to raise people out of poverty, contain Income Support expenditures, and increase contributions to the tax base, we must do more to help people who have a disability get into the workforce.
3. A Consolidated Employment First Policy Framework
Funding for employment supports is extremely fragmented and inefficient. Currently there are five different Ministries and departments that fund services and supports to help people who have a disability get into the workforce. The programs administered each have their own mandate, rules and regulations, eligibility criteria, reporting, data systems and so on. There is no relationship between them from an operating perspective.
Furthermore, some of the Ministries also fund programs that are based on old service delivery models that perpetuate dependency on social assistance. Some even fund programs that directly compete with and undermine the objectives of helping people get jobs.
Coordination is needed under a policy framework that places employment as the top priority for day supports and services for people who have a disability. These are not only specialized in nature, but must be developed and administered in consultation with the disability sector – those service providers and Ontarians who live and work with a disability.
September 7, 2011
The Ontario 2011 election is officially on! The Legislative Assembly was dissolved earlier this morning, and the campaign that determines who will form the government on October 6 has begun.
Click here to read the official party platforms.
Further updates from a disability perspective to come.
View the Ontario Election 2011 Special Edition of The Advocate Newsletter
September 6, 2011
What can each Party commit to doing? What can every candidate commit to doing?
Invest $16 million immediately into Attendant Services programs. This will have a profound impact on the health of Ontarians who use them, and produce substantial savings overall: a 50% reduction in waitlists across all LHINs.
September 2, 2011
Queen’s Park - Toronto
March of Dimes Canada is a founding member of the AODA Alliance, a multi-agency coalition dedicated to ensuring that the AODA identifies, eliminates and prevents barriers to the full participation of Ontarians with disabilities. Click here to see the latest advocacy work by the AODA Alliance, and the position of each Party on the future of the AODA.