Today is the Ontario Professional Firefighters lobby day. I had the privilege of meeting with Rob D’Amico from Local 288 this morning. I’d also like to welcome all of the members from Hamilton who are here for the OAITH Wrapped in Courage day. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

My question is for the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. Over 60,000 children are on a wait-list to receive access to core autism services in Ontario. My office receives many calls and emails from families who have been waiting for years for answers to their questions, questions like: “Did our application get approved? How do I know where we are on the wait-list? When will my child receive services?”

Speaker, yesterday our offices received an email from your ministry liaison asking us that we refrain from contacting AccessOAP on behalf of our constituents, citing process and protocol, telling us we’re not allowed to help. Minister, why is AccessOAP denying our offices’ advocacy and making it harder for families to get answers?

Speaker, families from across the province are reaching out to all of our offices, including government members. First we’re told AccessOAP needed their own consent forms only to receive useless answers like, “We can’t tell you where you are on the list, when you’ll receive a call or even when you’ll get a case worker.” Now we are being shut out altogether. Speaker, families are desperate and this is completely unacceptable.

Minister, why are you allowing this third-party organization, that we fund, to block answers and to make sure that things are even harder for families?

Interjections.