Hon. Madeleine Meilleur
Minister of Community & Social Services
6th Floor Hepburn Block
80 Grosvenor Street
Toronto, ON
M7A 1E9

Dear Madame Meilleur,

I am writing to you regarding Ms. Cheryl Patterson whose story was featured in today’s Toronto Star. We raised Ms. Patterson’s case to highlight the deplorable practice by your government of clawing back children’s Orphan’s Benefits from Ontario Works’ assistance.

Hamilton East MPP Andrea Horwath says the timing for mailing out disability support cheques puts people with disabilities and low incomes in deeper financial trouble.

In the statement marking to provincial legislature marking the International Day of Disabled Persons, Horwath urged the McGuinty government to make allowances for the fact that Ontario Disability Support Plan cheques arrive after the deadline for paying hydro bills has passed, prompting ODSP clients to be hit with unaffordable late penalties and security deposits “through no fault of their own.”

NDP Leader Howard Hampton says working families are struggling to stay above the poverty line and are increasingly turning to food banks under the McGuinty Liberals – more than any other province in Canada.

Hamilton East MPP Andrea Horwath says Dalton McGuinty’s refusal to restore the full special diet allowance to a Hamilton resident with debilitating Lou Gehrig’s disease is an insult to people who need help affording food for medical reasons.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton wants to know why Dalton McGuinty is letting down Ontario′s disabled citizens.

Today, Ontario′s Ombudsman sounded the alarm about a “bureaucratic nightmare” that is denying disabled citizens disability benefits they are legally entitled to.