During Monday\u2019s question period, Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky, the NDP Official Opposition critic for Community and Social Services, asked the Ford government why it is spending $1 million to hire a consultant to help it cut even more funding from supports for people with developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n
Gretzky also asked why the winner of that million-dollar contract was instructed not to consult with people with disabilities, their families or their advocates \u2014 terms reported by the Canadian Press<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cFor people living with disabilities, especially developmental disabilities like autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and FASD \u2014 who rely on crucial care and support from the government \u2014\u00a0the Ford government\u2019s $1-billion budget cut to the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services was a slap in the face,\u201d Gretzky said.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople with disabilities were already let down by 15 years of underfunding and neglect under the Liberals. Now, we\u2019ve learned that the Ford Conservatives will pay up to $1 million to hire a \u2018consultant\u2019 to tell them how to deliver their deep cuts \u2014 and specifically, how to axe programs that support those with developmental disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the programs Ford is eyeing for cuts are respite care, day programs and in-home caregivers \u2014 crucial supports for which many families remain on years-long waitlists. The tender for bids on that contract directed the contract winner not to consult with anyone outside Ford\u2019s own ministry \u2014 excluding people with disabilities or their families or advocates.<\/p>\n \u201cFamilies with a loved one with a developmental disability are worried sick about what these drastic cuts could mean,\u201d said Gretzky. \u201cSupport service providers are worried too. It\u2019s been seven months since the start of the fiscal year, and agencies in the developmental services sector still don\u2019t have their annualized budgets. Frontline workers are still being kept in the dark by the Ford government regarding the future of their funding.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFord\u2019s drastic cuts to people with disabilities is inexcusable; people with disabilities and their families deserve a government that invests in programs that support them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During Monday\u2019s question period, Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky, the NDP Official Opposition critic for Community and Social Services, asked the Ford government why it is spending $1 million to hire a consultant to help it cut even more funding from supports for people with developmental disabilities. Gretzky also asked why the winner of that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorials"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-28 21:27:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25823,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25822\/revisions\/25823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}