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The Ford government has allowed the Ontario Autism Program waitlist to grow from 23,000 children in 2019 to 87,692 by December 2025 — a 281% increase. Despite FAO warnings of a $600M+ funding gap, annual budget increases have been insufficient to reduce wait times. This page documents the accountability record.
In 2019, the Ford government announced a major overhaul of the Ontario Autism Program. The initial plan — replacing intensive direct-funded therapy with a flat family subsidy — was widely condemned by autism clinicians, families, and advocacy groups as inadequate.
After significant public backlash, the government revised the plan to a needs-based model. However, implementation has been chronically underfunded. The waitlist — which stood at approximately 23,000 children in 2019 — has grown continuously under every version of the reform, reaching 87,692 by December 2025.
Full OAP policy history →The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO) has provided independent analysis of OAP funding multiple times. Their core findings:
The FAO identified that OAP requires at least $600 million more per year than the government currently allocates to meaningfully serve registered children.
Under current allocation trajectories, the FAO projects the waitlist will continue growing. No credible elimination timeline exists.
Annual budget increases for OAP have consistently been smaller than the number of new children registering, meaning the gap widens each year.
| Government Promise | Actual Outcome | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Reform OAP to serve all children (2019) | Waitlist grew from ~23,000 to 87,692 — a 281% increase | Not Met |
| Needs-based funding model (2019) | FAO found funding levels insufficient to cover actual service costs for most families | Partial |
| Annual budget increases for OAP | Increases did not keep pace with new registrations; waitlist grew every year | Not Met |
| Improved access to services across Ontario | Regional disparities persist; urban waitlists remain among the longest | Not Met |
| Transparent reporting on OAP outcomes | Waitlist figures require FOI requests; no public dashboard exists | Not Met |
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has previously investigated access to autism services in Ontario. The OHRC has found that children with autism face systemic barriers to services that amount to disability discrimination, and has called for a rights-based approach to OAP design and funding.
OHRC investigation overview →Carroll v. Ontario (HRTO File 2025-62264-I) is an active human rights proceeding that directly challenges the Ford government's OAP waitlist as systemic disability discrimination. The case argues that the government's documented failure to fund timely services — while knowing the developmental harm this causes — constitutes a violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Carroll v. Ontario case overview →Ontario autism families and advocacy organizations have consistently demanded:
The Ontario government does not proactively publish OAP waitlist data. All figures cited on this site were obtained through Freedom of Information requests to MCCSS. The most recent data — 87,692 registered children as of December 2025 — came from FOI-MCSS-2025-12-10.
Requiring parents to file FOI requests to access basic program statistics is itself a transparency failure. Families deserve real-time public access to this data.
For full waitlist statistics and data:
View Ontario Autism Waitlist Data →Commitment to Accuracy: Our data is independently verified against official government reports (FAO, MCCSS), peer-reviewed scientific literature, and accessible public records. Last updated: February 1, 2026.