The following is an excerpt from Ontario Hansard Record June 12, 2006

The debate is on Bill 52 Education Statue Law amendment Act

(Learning to age 18), 2006

Frank Klees, MPP Oak Ridges

There are many parents who are observing this debate, and they're asking, "If you're going to follow through on this promise, why are you not following through on the promise you made to autistic children and their families that the government, that Mr. McGuinty, when he became Premier, would extend funding for autistic children and give them the same fair and equal opportunity to learn and to develop life skills as any other student in the province?" Why be so selective? Why come forward with this legislation that is, without question, very, very conflicting in terms of the support, very controversial? Even the teachers' federations oppose this bill. They have been urging the government not to proceed, to rethink what they're doing here. I know of very few education stakeholders who support this legislation.

So parents of autistic children, who are wrestling daily with the challenge of affording their children an equal opportunity for an education, are asking the question of this Premier, of the Minister of Education, why? Why take legislative time, why invest additional funds in a bill, in an initiative that, quite frankly, in the order of priority, when you consider that there are young children in this province who are struggling just to have the opportunity to learn language and speech, to communicate in the very basic fundamentals of how to carry on their lives -- this government is turning its back on them. Having made the promise, they're parading now with great fanfare the fact that they're willing to follow through with this bill.

There would be those of us who would say the government should be brought to account for that, and I believe they will be. I believe, as people across the province get to know what this government truly is doing with education policy, they will come to understand that it's much less about serving the students and the parents of this province and ensuring that public education carries out the mandate of education and it's much more, in the mind of this government, to placate certain stakeholders, to placate certain interest groups, because it's in their political interest .