(Queen’s Park) – Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop today challenged Community and Social Services Minister Sandra Pupatello to visit Huronia Regional 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.

Contacts:
Garfield Dunlop
(705) 327-4500 (cell)