LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO Progressive Conservative MPP Goldie Ghamari speaks during question period on March 4, 2019 at Queen's Park.

An Ottawa-area mom says her MPP expressed concerns about the government's autism program but said she can't be seen publicly disagreeing with her Progressive Conservative colleagues. Lacey Corrigan, whose six-year-old son Carter has autism, told HuffPost Canada that she has twice met with Goldie Ghamari about the government's controversial new autism program. The Richmond, Ont. mother-of-three brought videos of Carter in therapy to the second meeting to show Ghamari the profoundly positive effect applied behaviour analysis (ABA) has had on him. "She stopped me. She said, 'You don't have to convince me on this issue. I am on your side,'" Corrigan said.

LACEY CORRIGAN Lacey Corrigan's six-year-old son, Carter, is on the moderate to severe end of the autism spectrum.

The PC government announced last month it would reorganize the province's autism funding program to get thousands of children off a waiting list, but parents say the model will deny high-needs kids the support they require. Right now, Carter gets 32 hours a week of government-funded therapy. It costs twice as much as Corrigan earns in a month. Come April 1, her family will qualify for about $4,700 a year in funding, Corrigan said, but they don't know when they will see that money. And it wouldn't even cover one month of therapy. Corrigan and her partner are considering moving to another province, selling their house, or giving up one of their jobs to support Carter. And now she feels "betrayed" by her MPP. Corrigan says Ghamari told her she agreed the changes need to be reassessed, and that she's raised concerns in private caucus meetings but must toe the party line in public. Ghamari did not respond to HuffPost's multiple requests for an interview. MPP said she would appeal to minister At their first meeting, Ghamari agreed to write a letter on her behalf to Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod, whose ministry is tasked with funding autism supports. Corrigan went to the second meeting to approve the letter, but says she was surprised at how it was worded. "She had added a couple things about me being understanding that the Liberal government left them a bankrupt system and that I knew that there was no more money to be given, that I knew this was going to be the system that was implemented," Corrigan said. "I asked Goldie to take that out because it wasn't my views or my opinions." Ghamari agreed, she said. "She said to me, 'It is literally my job to be your voice.'" Corrigan went home and posted about the letter and her experience with Ghamari in a Facebook group for families of people with autism. "I left there hopeful. I made the post on Facebook thinking that maybe other parents could feel the hope that I felt."

LACEY CORRIGAN Ottawa-area mother Lacey Corrigan wrote this post on a Facebook group for the autism community on March 1, 2019.

That night, she got a friend request on Facebook from what appeared to be Ghamari's personal account. "I wasn't really comfortable accepting," Corrigan said. Then she received Facebook messages from Ghamari, asking her to delete or edit her post. "I would appreciate it if you made some changes because your comments are not entirely accurate," reads one of the messages provided to HuffPost. "I never said that I disagreed with the changes."

LACEY CORRIGAN Carleton MPP Goldie Ghamari asked her constituent Lacey Corrigan to remove a post about their meeting via Facebook messenger.