Advocates from the Ontario Autism Coalition say they were ignored by Doug Ford after his campaign failed to answer the coalition’s questions about autism services ahead of Thursday’s election.“Despite numerous invitations to share their position on the issues that affect us most, the PC Party has offered nothing more than their silence,” advocates said in a statement.As of Tuesday, all three major parties had responded to the coalition’s questions except for the Ontario PC Party.“They have not presented any plan to get more than 50,000 kids off the core services waitlist, address the desperate lack of services in schools, or the poverty-level inadequacy of ODSP rates,” the coalition said. “The autism community is let down and disappointed.”In a statement to CityNews, a spokesperson for the Ontario PC Party pointed to the Ford government’s previous investments in autism services, including $720 million to “launch a new autism program that created additional pathways to provide more children with autism access to more services than ever before.”“Our program offers immediate access to services including speech-language pathology, occupational therapy and, for the first time ever, mental health services,” the spokesperson added.The Ford campaign also pointed to increases made to ODSP rates in 2023 and 2024, including the earned income threshold and a separate measure that ties the rate to inflation.Meanwhile, the Ontario Liberals, NDP and Greens have all promised to double ODSP benefits, if elected.“The Financial Accountability Office projects ODSP will cost $7.7 billion by 2028-29. Doubling ODSP payments would cost $21 billion over the next three years—an unrealistic plan,” the Ontario PC Party spokesperson said.“Ontario’s families deserve a government that connects them to the support they need when they need it, and that is exactly what the Ontario PCs will continue to deliver,” they added.Polls officially open for the Ontario general election on Thursday, Feb. 27, starting at 9 a.m.