Friday, September 19, 2008

Liberal MP David McGuinty and NDP Candidate Marlene Rivier Commit To Funding Autism Treatment Under Medicare

The non-partisan efforts of the Medicare For Autism Now Campaign are featured in a Sun Media article on C-Health. The article includes comments from long time autism activists Louise Witt of Surrey, British Columbia and Andrew Kavchak of Ottawa, Ontario. Both Louise and Andrew stress the non-partisan nature of the campaign.

Candidates from two political parties are also featured as supporting the effort to include autism treatment in Medicare, Ottawa South MP David McGuinty, running for re-election for the Liberals and New Democrat candidate Marlene Rivier, running in Ottawa West-Nepean:


Marlene Rivier, NDP:

"I really think autistic children have been shortchanged. Commitments have been made to them and then those governments have failed to follow through on them. We need to extend treatment to those families, and continue examining evidence to ensure they are producing the outcomes we want for these children during the critical years. The fact they are being denied the help they need is really quite tragic."

David McGuinty, Liberal:

"We need to find out how we might proceed and whether the Canada Health Act might be amended to include treatment for autism spectrum. My brother (Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty) has been seized with this for years. It's a tough thing, a lot of demands. I've been working hard on this and it's something we have to move forward on"


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