Minister Finley's office remains inaccessible
November 1, 2010
OTTAWA
- A full seven months after Liberals challenged Human Resources and Skills
Development Minister Diane Finley to make her
constituency office accessible to the disabled – and a full six years after she was first elected – Minister Finley is still ignoring the needs of the disabled in her community by refusing to build a
wheelchair ramp.
When questioned at committee seven months ago about why her office
remained inaccessible Minister Finely skirted the issue and then blamed the House of Commons for a funding shortfall. She said: “The funding system through the House of Commons has not made
that possible, much to my dismay.” (Committee Hansard, April 14, 2010) Books show that, on top of receiving MP funding each year to operate her constituency office, Minister Finley receives an
additional $17,110 per year due to the geographical and population size of her riding.
Liberals remain shocked that the Minister responsible for making sure all government services are accessible to all Canadians continues to shirk her responsibility at her own office. Minister Finley
should be setting an example.
Liberal Human Resources and Skills Development Critic Michael Savage said “it is the same kind of callousness and insensitivity she displayed in her approach to caregivers when she told them they
should use their vacation time to look after a dying family member.”
“There are a number of other devices that people, many employees do have
access to in these sorts of situations. Employees do have vacation leave that they can use,” she said. (October 5, 2010)
To make sure Minister Finley understands the severity of the situation, we have included updated pictures of her constituency office, taken on October 31, 2010.
Contact
Press Office
Office of the Leader of the Opposition
613-996-6740
Office of
Mike Savage, 613-995-9378
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