During a campaign stop in Scarborough Friday, Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford was asked if he would commit to doubling Ontario Disability Support Program rates. In his response he said, ”You know what I don’t like? And I have no problem taking care of people on Ontario Works. Healthy young people that are sitting on the couch watching the Flintstones, they should be out there, they should be working.”
London West NDP incumbent Peggy Sattler said she found the remark hurtful and harmful. She took to social media, expressing her frustration, and making a personal reference to her brother who had to rely on ODSP due to an intellectual disability.
This is vile. My brother had an intellectual disability & lived with my dad. He mowed lawns & plowed snow, earning enough to have some independence. When he developed lung disease he could no longer work & went on ODSP until he passed. He was not watching Flintstones. #onpoli https://t.co/s2Fvytlhu1
— Peggy Sattler (@PeggySattlerNDP) February 9, 2025
“My brother was not scamming the system. My brother is like so many people with disabilities in this province who want to work,” said Sattler. “There are many people with disabilities who can’t work, they simply cannot work because of their disability. And to disparage them, you know, saying that they’re, you know, lying on the couch eating chips and watching The Flintstones. It was it was really despicable.”
Sattler says it’s important to recognize that people with disabilities are struggling because the current support system doesn’t cut it.
Sattler had the agreement of Green Party representative Jim Johnston, who told CTV News, he strongly believes in the rights of disabled persons, that funding levels for ODSP and Ontario Works need to be doubled, and that people who receive benefits under this program are fully deserving of this support.
Dr. Jeff Preston, Associated Professor of Disabilities Studies, King’s University College said that unfortunately Ford’s remarks follow rhetoric that tries to paint people that are on social services as ‘being potentially frauds, as being lazy.’
“If you’re in London, at most you’re receiving around 1,300 (dollars) a month, which when you factor in things like rent - which has gone up a lot, in the last few years - when you consider food... there is very little money left over,” explained Dr. Preston.
Preston and Sattler hope to see changes made to social assistance rates to keep pace with the cost of living.
They expressed disappointment: “To hear someone talk kind of flippantly or casually about people as though they’re just leeching off the system, just sitting at home having a grand old time on a government dollar... in my experience [it] does not reflect people that are on social services,” expressed Dr. Preston.
“Doug Ford’s comments about people with disabilities are not just out of touch — they are offensive, shameful and completely ignore the daily struggles of nearly half a million Ontarians who rely on ODSP. To suggest that individuals with disabilities should just “get off the couch” and work, while his government forces them to survive on support well below the poverty line, is beyond unacceptable,” said London West Liberal candidate Baqar KhanOntario.
CTV News also reached out to the PC candidate in the London West riding for comment, as of publication time, we have not heard back.
