MARKHAM, ONT. — Though "more work needs to be done" on their behalf, Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty wouldn't commit Friday to clearing a long waiting list of children awaiting an expensive autism treatment, drawing fire from opposition parties eager to lure support away from the front-running Liberals.
Mr. McGuinty, who pledged to spend more money on middle-grade students, wouldn't expand on his comments except to say the Liberals have done more for autistic children than have previous NDP or Progressive Conservative governments.
"I can only imagine the nature of the challenge for parents who are absolutely devoted to their kids and want to make sure they get all the opportunities that they need," Mr. McGuinty said at a school in Markham, north of Toronto.
"I think we have made some real progress and, of course, there's still more work to be done."
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The Conservatives, whom polls suggest are lagging behind the incumbent Liberals in the final days before the Oct. 10 vote, pounced on Mr. McGuinty's remarks, calling him "cruel" for breaking a promise to help autistic children.
Opposition parties say the backlog of children waiting for the costly but effective one-on-one treatment — known as Intensive Behavioural Intervention, or IBI — has grown to nearly 1,000 kids under the Liberal government.
The Liberals call that accusation unfair, saying the wait list has grown because the government agreed to assess more children to determine if they are eligible for treatment.
Both the NDP and Conservatives have vowed to clear the wait list if they are elected. Mr. McGuinty wouldn't go that far, but did say his government has nearly tripled spending on autism, doubled the number of children getting access to treatment and provided funding for classroom therapy.
The province also spent $2.4 million on a seven-year court battle, started by the former Conservative government, with the parents of autistic children — many of whom say they're struggling to cope with medical bills that can easily exceed a year's salary.
More recently, the party came under fire from the Ontario Autistic Coalition, which says the Liberals have failed to adequately respond to questions about whether they'll take the children off the waiting list.
Mr. McGuinty, whose re-election efforts have so far remained largely free of the controversy that has plagued the Conservatives over their pledge to extend funding to faith-based schools, has been running a low-key campaign of late.
And while he hasn't openly speculated on the outcome, victory didn't seem to be far from Mr. McGuinty's thoughts during a brief appearance at an Oktoberfest party in Kitchener to announce a proposed new statutory holiday, called Family Day, that would fall annually on the third Monday of February, or Feb. 18 in 2008.
"I've been looking forward to a toast of some kind, which I'm about to participate in," Mr. McGuinty said before chugging beer in front of dozens of polka-loving revellers.
Earlier in the day, Mr. McGuinty unveiled a new plank in his education platform, saying a Liberal government would spend up to $150 million a year to reduce class sizes in grades 4 through 8, provide more individual attention in areas like the arts, and help students make the transition to high school.
He also touted new statistics indicating Ontario produced 30,000 new full-time jobs last month. However, the province's job growth for the first nine months of this year — 1.2 per cent — was still well below the national average.
Mr. McGuinty acknowledged that Ontario's manufacturing sector, hit hard by the soaring Canadian dollar, continues to be "challenged." But the Liberals are the only party that can bring labour and business to the table, he added.
"We're in a transitional phase when it comes to manufacturing," Mr. McGuinty said. "We're going to ensure that we create the kinds of strengths in our manufacturing sector that demand good jobs, and that's why we continue to invest in our kids."
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