Premier Doug Ford says the province is “pouring money” into autism services and despite protests he find baffling, he will “help them no matter how long it takes.”

Speaking to reporters at a news conference in the Sudbury area, Ford was asked about his government’s controversial changes to the Ontario Autism Program.

“What boggles my mind ... we’re pouring, we’re pouring money into autism and focused on it, listening to the experts — not a bunch of politicians — but listening to the experts,” he said, noting the government’s promised $600-million budget this year. “We’re helping them, and they’re protesting? ... I question that.”

Ford went on to say he has “a passion for helping these families. And even though they protest, I’m going to help them no matter how long it takes. We’re going to get the 23,000 people the support that they never had under the previous government. If they want to go back to the previous government and leave 23,000 families (on a wait list), that’s their choice. But I’m not doing that.”

Earlier in the day at Queen’s Park, New Democrat MPP Monique Taylor accused the province of creating “uncertainty and confusion on the autism file.”

The Ford government, Taylor said, “has claimed repeatedly that they’re investing more money in the autism program, but there is still no evidence of this.”

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Taylor said families have yet to receive their “childhood budget” to pay for autism services. “Instead, what we are seeing is an erosion of the entire system that serves children with autism — a system that has taken decades to establish and will take decades to rebuild.”

The province announced in February that it was moving to a funding model that would see each child receive up to $20,000 a year until age 6 and then $5,000 a year until age 18, to pay for the autism services of their choice.

However, therapy for children with severe needs can cost as much as $80,000 a year.

After an outcry, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Lisa MacLeod extended existing service contracts, doubled the funding pot to $600 million for this year, and struck an expert panel to look at a system that’s based more on need than age or family income.

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“We understand the challenges that occur during a transition period can be unsettling, but our intended result is a system that provides more choice to families and parents,” MacLeod said in a written statement, “As these changes are implemented we anticipate further staffing changes” but as demand increases “we expect service providers to become re-employed across the sector as a result of demand from these families in the immediate future.”

The latest service provider to announce layoffs is ErinkoakKids, which serves the 905 regions of Halton and Peel, where 291 autism service staffers were let go. About 178 of them will be asked back on nine-month contracts.

With files from Rob Ferguson

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