NDP Poverty Critic Michael Prue, MPP for Beaches-East York, today demanded to know why the McGuinty government is limiting the public’s ability to comment on the government’s poverty legislation.

“The McGuinty Liberals have chosen to severely limit public hearings on Bill 152 to just two half days here in Toronto. In this economic climate, poverty has permeated many jurisdictions across the province, especially in the North and in areas like Windsor,” Prue said.

Prue and his NDP caucus colleagues have called for an expansion of public hearings on the bill so that people living in poverty who were not invited to the government’s closed-door consultations last year would have another opportunity to be heard.

Lee McKenna, Director of Policy and Government Relations for
The Association of Ontario Health Centres, urges the government to conduct more far-reaching public hearings.

“This piece of legislation is supposed to be a signature piece for the government. AOHC believes it is crucial to increase public access on such an important bill can be beneficial to making improvements to curtailing poverty across Ontario,” she said.

The only dates for public hearings are April 20 and 21 at Queen’s Park for limited hours each of those days.

“It is truly disappointing that this government claims poverty reduction is at the top of its agenda, but in reality, it wants to restrict the public from making concrete recommendations to strengthen this bill,” Prue said.

“If McGuinty was really serious about tackling poverty in Ontario, especially at this time, he would insist the hearings be expanded to include regions across the province – northern, southwestern and eastern Ontario – where our current economic crisis has hit hardest.”