By MPP Bobbi Ann Brady
Christmas is supposed to be a season of hope and good cheer. For many it is, but this year for far too many, life is challenging. My office continues to receive phone calls and emails from people who, despite working hard – many working more than one job – cannot keep pace. Some tell me they are very worried about choosing between heating and eating if winter hits hard in the new year.
Sadly, in Ontario we have what my colleague Mike Schreiner has dubbed “a crisis in caring.”
As the House broke for Christmas, I reminded the government that now is not the time to continue to turn its back on some of Ontario’s most vulnerable. I spent time with families this past Sunday evening during the Community Living Access Annual Christmas party. These are wonderful, gracious families who devote themselves to ensuring their loved ones are looked after; however, they are also exhausted and sometimes nearly hobbled by efforts to get this government’s attention. They have repeatedly called on this government to address the waitlist of 52,000 adults waiting to access services—the list has grown 105 per cent in five years.
I’ve recently met with families with loved ones living with developmental disabilities and these folks and the agencies that support them are being strangled. They can no longer find savings. They are struggling to meet the basic needs of these families because complexities continue to exacerbate the older the clients get. Once someone is involved in a developmental services agency, they never emerge from it in the sense they are a lifelong commitment.
I’ve met with Chris Beesley, CEO of Community Living Ontario, and I agree with him when he says: “it should not be at the whim of any government to determine who gets, who does not, and when. The province’s books should not be balanced on the backs of its most vulnerable citizens. We must do better.”
I am continually meeting with agencies in Haldimand-Norfolk, and they are suffering from chronic underfunding, leaving them struggling to provide the critical services on which individuals and their families depend to meet basic needs. These services are not luxuries, they are lifelines.
Our local child and family services is also at the breaking point, they have done everything to save money and to raise money. The complexity of cases the agency is grappling with continues to mount while this government refuses to expand beds and treatment at Syl Apps, Youthdale, and Robert Smart. Many young people experiencing these complex issues are not making it into foster homes but rather being housed in hotel rooms. This is unconscionable to me.
Helping the vulnerable took centre stage last week because, the day before, I questioned the government on what safeguards are in place to ensure vulnerable, but not terminally ill Ontarians, aren’t mis-directed toward Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). Last year, a quarter of all MAID providers heard from the Coroner’s Office about possible violations of criminal law yet not a single instance was referred to police, only one was sent to the regulatory college. As I told my colleagues in the legislature, government should not be normalizing homicide as a medical treatment or allowing it to become an industry.
As I departed for the winter break, set to last until March 3rd, I tabled a motion calling on the government to help the province’s home builders by increasing the Ontario HST New Home Rebate to reflect 75 per cent of the HST based on the first one million dollars of a new build, rather than the current $400,000 threshold. I also tabled petitions with respect to the reconstruction of the Argyle Street Bridge in Caledonia and “Say No to the MZO.”
My recent actions at Queen’s Park stem from my interactions with you, the people of Haldimand-Norfolk. I thank you for all your insight, opinions, and advice over the past year.
Merry Christmas to you and all your loved ones.
Bobbi Ann Brady is the MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk