Thank you to the member opposite.

It does not meet the current needs that people have. It actually doesn’t come close to meeting the inflation cost and pressures. Someone in my community said to me, “Milk is so expensive right now, and babies need milk.” People on ODSP need the government to recognize that. It does not meet the current need of the affordability crisis that people are facing in this province, and it’s actually forcing them into food bank lines.

In my riding, there has been an over 25% increase in food bank use. When you look at the faces of those individuals, it’s really changing.

There’s a real, desperate need there. If you talk to people who are part of the ODSP coalition, you’ll hear that it needs much more than that.

We, the Ontario Liberals, say 20% immediately, with a review of the basic income pilot so that we can provide adequacy for people who are most vulnerable in this province.

So I do believe that all Ontarians should be able to have a choice in how they live in our society, and our society should accommodate that.

What is very distressing in this situation is that the government creates so many hurdles for people who are on ODSP, even just to access support. During the pandemic, there was a $200 amount that they had access to, but they had to go through their caseworker. So many people contacted my office because those offices were closed, or people were working from home and they were inaccessible. So why would the government put an extra burden on people on ODSP, rather than just distributing the funds to the cases that they know they have on record and have on file?

Absolutely, there is more that can be done to support people with disabilities in this province.