Clark off to busy start as Legislature returns to action

Leeds-Grenville MPP Steve Clark was busy during the first full-day session of the Ontario Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, November 23 as he shined the provincial spotlight on a pair of issues at Queen’s Park.

PHOTO CREDIT - OurHometown.ca

Brockville - November 24, 2011 - Leeds-Grenville MPP Steve Clark was busy during the first full-day session of the Ontario Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, November 23 as he shined in the provincial spotlight on a pair of issues at Queen’s Park.

Clark delivered a Member’s Statement urging his MPP colleagues to support his call for Elections Ontario to clean up its list of electors and then later introduced petitions signed by hundreds of people from across Ontario imploring the McGuinty government to get serious about the treatment, diagnosis and public awareness of Lyme disease.

“These are two issues that I heard about frequently during the election campaign and in my constituency office since Oct. 6,” noted Clark. “I felt it was important to waste no time in bringing the concerns of Leeds-Grenville residents to the attention of the government.”

Clark said it’s urgent that Elections Ontario update the voters list prior to the next provincial election.

“Elections Ontario has made great efforts in trying to make voting easier for Ontarians through such measures as increasing the number of advance polling days. Obviously, I applaud those efforts,” said Clark.

“But they need to understand that those efforts are undermined by the fact that the voters list in this province is a disgrace. People who have lived at the same address for decades told me they were so insulted at being left off the list that they weren’t going to vote.”

Others were mistakenly sent to voting locations far away from their home communities due to inaccurate information on the list, noted Clark.

“It caused great frustration for voters and, I’m sure, local Elections Ontario staff who did their best to manage a situation that was absolutely no fault of their own,” said Clark.

In his Member’s Statement, Clark said, “I call on Elections Ontario to look into why the voters list is such a mess and fix it before more Ontarians are disenfranchised.”

Later on Wednesday, Clark presented dozens of petitions that have been sent to his constituency office from across the province in the past month.

“I’m so pleased to be able to speak on behalf of those people suffering from this terrible disease,” said Clark. “I’ve been amazed by how many people in Leeds-Grenville and beyond have gotten behind this effort. It really speaks to the need for the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care to start treating Lyme disease more seriously.”

Clark said he’s eager to hear a response from the Ministry to the petitions, which he plans to continue presenting at Queen’s Park as they to come into his office. Copies of the petition are available for download on Clark's website.

The 40th Parliamentary Session of the Ontario Legislature opened this week with the election of the Speaker on Monday and the government’s Throne Speech on Tuesday.