LISA MACLEOD'S AUTISM PROGRAM WARNING WILL NOT BE INVESTIGATED
May 23, 2019
By Bob Komsic
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Ontario’s integrity commissioner finds insufficient grounds to investigate the social services minister’s warning to behaviour analysts over the government’s autism program.
Lisa MacLeod apologized after the Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis said she and her staff told them it would be ”four long years” for the organization if it did not publicly support the program.
(oico.on.ca)
Commissioner J. David Wake says even if the allegation’s true, the comments do not violate rules that prohibit using her office to influence someone in order to further her private interest.
Wake adds the allegation MacLeod was trying to seek favourable media coverage for the policy changes does not constitute a private interest.
The government ultimately made changes to the program following backlash from parents and therapists, who said it gave families insufficient funding and did not take individual needs into account.