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For Immediate Release
January 19,2005
DUNLOP TO PUPATELLO: VISIT HURONIA REGIONAL CENTRE OR
RESIGN
(Queen's Park)Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop today challenged
Community and Social Services Minister Sandra Pupatello to visit
HuroniaRegional Centre (HRC) and meet with the families of its residents, or
resign from her Cabinet position.
Last September, the McGuinty government announced without a clear plan
that it will close HRC by March 31st, 2009. Many of the residents'
families have already been notified that their loved ones will be moved
out of the facility, some as early as the second quarter of this year.
HRC is one of the three remaining government-operated facilities in Ontario
for people with developmental disabilities.
"I believe the Minister won't visit HRC because she would then be
forced to face the truth of her mean-spirited and ill-advised decision to
close it," said Dunlop. "She would see firsthand that the very people she is
moving into community settings are so elderly and have such complex
needs that no group home anywhere in this province could ever be capable of
providing them with the care they need."
Dunlop noted that John Baird and Brenda Elliott, the two previous
Community and Social Services Ministers, both visited HRC and made no
specific decision about its future.
"If the Minister has no intention of touring HRC, in the very least,
she should do the honourable thing and resign," said Dunlop. "Someone needs
to protect HRC's vulnerable residents, most of whom cannot speak for
themselves ? and Sandra Pupatello clearly isn't up to the job."
Apart from the harsh impact on the 350 residents and their families, the
closure of HRC will also effectively eliminate a major Orillia employer.
HRC employs over 700 front-line staff and managers, accounting for
about five percent of all jobs in Orillia. The Minister has yet to come
forward with any plan whatsoever to compensate the community for this
overwhelming economic loss.
Contact:
Garfield Dunlop
(705) 327-4500 (cell)