ODA Committee Update
dated Sept. 23, 2003

ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT COMMITTEE UPDATE Toronto Star Publishes Column On Election Disabilities Issues - ODA and ODSP Coalitions Team Up To Get Their Issues To Voters September 23, 2003 SUMMARY The September 23, 2003 Toronto Star, on the day of the all-important Leaders Debate, includes a column on election disability issues jointly written by ODA Committee chair David Lepofsky and ODSP Action Coalition chair Nancy Vander Plaats (See the full column below). This column alerts voters to two important disability election issues, the need to strengthen the weak, unenforceable ODA and the need for a long-overdue cost of living increase to Ontario Disability Support Program payments. It describes the parties' positions. Help our campaign to raise disability issues in this election. Forward this article to family and friends. Print up copies and hand it out to people you know. Urge them to consider these issues when deciding how to vote. Hand out copies of this article at an All-Candidates Debate near you. Help us get more media coverage on this election's disability issues. Urge your local media to give disability issues some profile during the last 9 days of this campaign. Raise the disability issues that matter to you. Show this column to your local radio and TV station assignment editors, and to your local newspaper. If they won't assign a reporter to cover this, write your own letter or column for your newspaper. For email addresses for Ontario newspapers, and tips on how to write letters to the editor, visit: www.odacommittee.net/action-tip36.html ***** Toronto Star Tuesday, September 23, 2003, p. A26 Voting down Ontario's barriers David Lepofsky and Nancy Vander plaats Your vote can help make Ontario barrier-free for 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities. Media coverage emphasizes a few major election issues. In close riding races, other issues can swing election results. This election, voters with disabilities can make the difference. Here are two important issues and the parties' positions. Like other Ontarians, 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities want to go out with friends, go to school, get jobs, and participate in every aspect of life. But many can't. Unnecessary barriers block them from fully participating. If barriers are prevented and removed, it will help everyone. If you don't have a disability now, someone close to you likely has one. You'll likely get one as you age. Seniors are getting more attention this election. Many seniors have disabilities. For years, Ontario has needed a strong new law to tear down barriers that keep people with disabilities from participating in every aspect of life. A strong Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA) would do that. In 1995, the Conservatives promised to pass the ODA in their first term. They later pledged it would be a strong, effective law. In 2001, after delaying six years, they passed a weak, unenforceable ODA. It doesn't require removal of barriers. Municipalities and other public sector organizations have to file accessibility plans, but they can leave in place any barriers they wish. The plans have to be made public, but they don't have to be implemented. The Conservative election platform doesn't promise to strengthen the party's weak law. After eight years in power, the Conservatives didn't make significant progress towards the barrier-free Ontario that they had promised. The Liberals and NDP each proposed amendments to strengthen the Conservatives' weak ODA. The Conservatives voted these down. The NDP and Liberals pressed the Conservative government for years to keep its 1995 election promise. The Liberal and NDP each promise that they would strengthen the ODA within one year. The Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), Ontario's disability social assistance program, is supposed to meet the needs of impoverished persons with disabilities. These payments have not been raised since before 1995, even for cost of living increases. Poor persons with disabilities have had to survive on a maximum of $414 a month for rent and $516 for food, transportation, and all other costs including costs of coping with their disability. The NDP and Liberals each promise an ODSP cost of living increase. Both the NDP and Liberals pressed the Conservatives for years to raise the ODSP, and introduced bills last year to provide for a cost of living increase, but the Conservative majority defeated the proposal. Among the Conservatives voting against the opposition bill were Citizenship Minister Carl DeFaria and all previous Conservative citizenship ministers still in the Legislature, Cam Jackson, Helen Johns and Marilyn Mushinski. The citizenship minister is supposed to advocate in government for persons with disabilities. Three Tories broke party ranks, voting to raise the ODSP, but that wasn't enough to save the bill. A year later, the Conservative platform now promises to raise the ODSP by five per cent , far less than the decade's cost of living increase. The Conservatives haven't implemented this promise in the five months since releasing their April platform. This comes after the Conservatives refused for eight years to raise the ODSP. These disability issues compound each other. Barriers force many Ontarians with disabilities into poverty. Often, they need to turn to social assistance. They experience great difficulty dealing with the complex application process before they even can get the ODSP. The cruelly inadequate ODSP payments, in turn, make it harder to overcome society's barriers. People with disabilities want to contribute and participate fully in society, but when all their energy must go to bare survival, they too often remain trapped in poverty. All Ontario will benefit when barriers are removed and prevented. Ask candidates where they stand. If the Conservatives still won't match the Liberals' and NDP's commitments, ask them at least to pledge not to oppose these measures in the next Legislature. If they won't help, ask them to promise not to act as barriers. Consider these issues when deciding how to vote. Help ensure that voters with disabilities can get to the polls to make their votes count. David Lepofsky chairs the ODA Committee, a voluntary coalition advocating for the ODA. Nancy Vander Plaats chairs the ODSP Action Coalition, a non-partisan coalition advocating to improve the ODSP.   oda@odacommittee.net

 

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