Families of children with autism are still truckin'.
The Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC), a grassroots group of parents of children with autism, has rented three 18-wheelers wrapped with statistics on the provincial autism program. The first one hit the road on Monday.
The campaign notes there are more kids waiting for autism services — 50,063 — than the 49,282 baseball seating capacity of the Rogers Centre (which the group, and many Ontarians, still affectionately refer to as the SkyDome).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JustWrapped?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JustWrapped</a> We&#39;re very pleased to announce the launch of the 1st of 3 trailers we&#39;re wrapping for <a href="https://twitter.com/OntAutism?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OntAutism</a>.🎉 
The routes for this truck are Greater Toronto Area, Kitchener/Waterloo, and Ottawa. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OntarioAutismCoalition?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OntarioAutismCoalition</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OAC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OAC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/50KIsNotOK?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#50KIsNotOK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NeedsBasedTherapy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NeedsBasedTherapy</a> <a href="https://t.co/T2WNMSXHBi">pic.twitter.com/T2WNMSXHBi</a>
&mdash; Big Rig Wraps Corporate Office (@bigrigwraps) <a href="https://twitter.com/bigrigwraps/status/1500883391322988556?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Until the election month of June, the trucks will drive between Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener and Montreal, OAC board member Tony Stravato said.
Stravato said the ads are not meant to be a condemnation of one party. However, he said the Progressive Conservative government has "destroyed" the file and burnt through all its goodwill with the community.
"Honestly, we have tried everything to work with them," Stravato said. "Countless meetings and going to events ... I don't feel this government will get it right."
The waitlist has been nearly doubled since the Tories took over, Stravato noted.
"The damage is so far gone that it's going to take years to recover. So as much as it wasn't an attack right on the side of the truck, we are reminding the people of Ontario that this government didn't just get it wrong. They destroyed it," he said.
Families of children with autism have <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2022/02/14/autism-program-wait-list-has-had-major-emotional-and-economic-consequences-for-families-researcher/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">battled the Ford government</a> nearly every step of the way in their search for a flexible program to fits their needs. The PCs have run through three ministers on the file and <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2019/07/29/we-didnt-get-the-redesign-right-the-first-time-todd-smith-says-on-governments-handling-of-autism-file/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted to making some serious errors</a>.
Social Services Minister Merrilee Fullerton has acknowledged progress on getting kids into core services <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2022/02/03/fullerton-acknowledges-government-was-a-little-slow-in-autism-program-rollout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has been slower than anticipated</a>.
But her office said about 40,000 kids are now receiving autism supports, "which is nearly five times more children than ever in the history of Ontario."
Spokesperson Krystle Caputo said Fullerton and Social Services Ministry staff "are in regular contact and engage in consultations with families."
Stravato said those meetings have been fruitless.
He said the last time the OAC met with the minister was in September. The last time ministry bureaucrats attended was in the summer, he said.
"And the meetings we did have with Fullerton were basically to keep us quiet," he said.
Stravato said her office gave the group "homework," but that it was "like talking to a wall."
"We would be told to give them some certain questions and then email them, and then they would follow up. And we did that a few times and basically every time it was the same talking points. So we were just like, obviously, this isn't going anywhere. They believe that they've done a good job," he said.
Last year, the group <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2021/06/02/in-brief-the-autism-billboard-and-support-for-beekeepers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched a billboard</a> in then-social services minister Todd Smith bringing attention to the 46,000 kids on the waitlist at the time. The billboard company took it down that day, however, due to a political advertising clause, it <a href="https://www.intelligencer.ca/news/billboard-critical-of-mpp-todd-smith-killed-hours-after-posting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> local media.
Stravato said the OAC has spent the past year brainstorming new ideas, and has raised about $20,000 for the truck ad campaign.
Last week, Ontario's fiscal watchdog noted the government had spent just <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2022/03/02/ontario-spent-5-5-billion-less-than-planned-over-first-three-quarters-of-2021-22-fao/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">56 per cent of its $600 million budget</a> for the autism program through the first three quarters of 2021-22. Fullerton has said she's confident her ministry will spend the rest in Q4.
Even if that happens, Stravato said he doesn't trust the PCs will spend its budget correctly.
He noted the government is far behind its goal of fully launching its new program, which was supposed to happen in April 2020.
"Honestly, all we're trying to do is to let people know that we're still here and we're still fighting for our children. Before the pandemic, we were fighting for our children, and after the pandemic, we will still be fighting," he said.
"We just want a government to get this right because we need to focus on our children and not on, you know, protesting on the front lawn of Queen's Park. We just can't have that anymore."

‘We have tried everything’: Transports displaying autism wait lists to tour Ontario

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