Autistic Families

Autistic Families Need Real Assistance

Last week, on February 21st, the worst kind of political game was played out in the House of Commons. It was a game as old as government, pitting Members of Parliament against each other for the sake of vote-getting but little else. Caught in the middle were Canadian families who deserve to be treated better.

Liberal Member of Parliament Shawn Murphy tabled a Private Members’ Bill C-304, an Act to provide for the development of a national strategy for the treatment of autism and amend the Canada Health Act. No doubt it sounds fairly straight forward and an issue that any caring and compassionate government would surely support. Unfortunately though, Bill C-304 was not a strategy for autism, it was a political strategy, designed to make it look as though the Government was not supportive of autistic families.

I have met with and heard from countless parents in our Kelowna-Lake Country riding who have children with autism. Virtually all of them would have wholeheartedly welcomed a national strategy to address autism and I am positive that had you asked them whether the House of Commons should have passed C-304 they would have said yes.

But as difficult a decision as it was, passing C-304 was not an option for any responsible MP or Government.

In order to show you why I’m going to tell you about my colleague Mike Lake because last week was doubly difficult for him. Mike Lake, is the Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Mills Woods- Beaumont and a father of a 10 year old autistic son. Mike knew that, had he voted to support Bill C-304, some parents of autistic children would have been very happy.

Instead he, like the rest of the Conservative Caucus, chose not to support Bill C-304 and here, in his own words, is the reason. Mike writes:

“Tonight, I will vote on a Private Member’s Bill titled “An Act to provide for the development of a national strategy for the treatment of autism and amend the Canada Health Act.”

I have a son with autism. I have heard from countless other parents of children with autism, virtually all of whom are wholeheartedly encouraging me and my colleagues in all parties to support this bill. There is nobody who wants to help these families more than I do. Nobody.

If I were to vote to support Bill C-304, some parents of children with autism would be very happy with me my colleagues who disagree with me would support me because of my unique family experience my constituents would applaud my compassion and sympathize with me and there seemingly would be no downside.

The problem is this. Bill C-304 is bad legislation. It proposes an ad hoc amendment to the Canada Health Act that changes the entire meaning of the document. It would set a precedent that would eventually undermine the entire Canadian health care system when taken to its logical extension.

If this Bill were to pass, autism would be the one and only disorder or disease named in the Canada Health Act. Cancer is not named. Neither is diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Why autism and not these? Why not Down Syndrome? Why not Schizophrenia?

Under the Canada Health Act, the provinces are clearly responsible for decisions on which medical treatments they will fund. If we are to maintain the integrity of the Act, only the provinces can make those decisions.

In my opinion, it is completely unacceptable for any province not to fund Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) for those who need it. If voters feel as strongly as I do about this, they must let their provincial governments know and then hold them accountable at election time.

The sad thing is that Shawn Murphy, the Liberal Member of Parliament who is sponsoring this Bill, knows all of this. He has been in Parliament since 2000 and would never have supported this piece of legislation when he was in government.

What he apparently doesn’t understand is that this is not an appropriate “wedge issue” to exploit for political gain. These are real people, with real challenges, who are absolutely desperate for real solutions. This Private Member’s Bill gives false hope to families who deserve so much more than to be treated as pawns in some political game.

On a more positive note, in 2006 Mr. Murphy’s Liberal colleague, Andy Scott introduced a Private Member’s Motion, M-172, on a national strategy for autism. To his credit, Mr. Scott designed his motion not to divide the House, but to build consensus among members of all parties. Mr. Scott’s carefully considered motion chose to focus on areas within the federal realm, and the Government (and the vast majority of members of the House) agreed with him – with a few minor amendments.

When I first saw Mr. Murphy’s Private Member’s Bill I suggested to him that perhaps he might consider changing his course and introduce something that would build on what was done by Mr. Scott rather than play politics. Mr. Murphy’s actions obviously demonstrate that he is not focused on helping families dealing with autism. My sincere hope is that every other Member of Parliament will put the interest of these families ahead of their own political ambition.

Personally, I am determined to fulfill my commitment to families dealing with autism as stated in my maiden speech in the House of Commons, “that I will do everything that I can do to promote action to the full extent that the federal government can play a role within its area of authority.”

As I mentioned in the opening paragraphs of this statement, the easy decision for me would be to vote in favour of this legislation. However, I was not elected to make the easy decisions. I was elected to make the right decisions, and in this case the right decision is to vote against Bill C-304.”

Whatever happened last week, the fact remains that too many Canadian families are left to their own devices to deal with autism. In itself the day in and day out is hard enough without having to fight every step of the way to have autism recognized as a disease which requires funding.

The onus is on all of us to support these families and I along with Mike will continue to do what we can at the federal level to ensure that the plight of autistic families does not get forgotten. As Mike said, I encourage all of you to support autistic families by writing to Al Horning and Sindi Hawkins at the provincial level and to me, Ron Cannan, MP at the federal level. Autism is growing at an alarming rate and we owe it to these Canadians families to recognize that this is not a struggle they can address on their own. It’s time to forego the political games for some real financial support.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.