AODA Alliance
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update
United for a Barrier-Free Ontario for All People with Disabilities
Website: www.aodaalliance.org
Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com
Twitter: @aodaalliance
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aodaalliance
Tomorrow Night at 8 or 11 PM EDT, Watch AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky on TVO’s “The Agenda with Steve Paikin” for the Latest News about the Grassroots Non-Partisan Campaign for Accessibility
June 2025
Tomorrow night at 8 and 11 pm EDT, TVO’s influential flagship affairs program “The Agenda with Steve Paikin” will include a 20-minute interview with AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky. It is also expected to stream live on the X (previously Twitter) feed and Facebook page of “The Agenda with Steve Paikin.” In addition, it will be permanently available on the program’s YouTube channel.
In this interview, viewers can catch up on the latest developments in the non-partisan grassroots battle for accessibility for people with disabilities in Ontario. This will be the 23rd time that TVO programs in which Steve Paikin is involved have included interviews on our campaign. To mark this, by around 8 pm or so tomorrow night, we will post online on the AODA Alliance website’s videos page a compilation of all 23 interviews, to be called “The Paikin Interviews.” Stay tuned!
This interview was recorded before the AODA Alliance raised its serious concerns last week that the Ford Government is drastically shortening debates in the Legislature over Bill 17, its housing bill that is harmful for people with disabilities. We have now raised strong objections that this bill eliminates the power of Ontario’s municipalities to pass bylaws regarding the construction of buildings. This would include local bylaws on building accessibility to people with disabilities.
The last thing Ontario now needs is more inaccessible housing. We have a crisis-level shortage of accessible housing! We asked the Ford Government to let us present our concerns at public hearings at the Legislature regarding Bill 17. Yet the Ford Government is trying to make sure there are no public hearings at all on that bill. Check out the the May 29, 2025 and May 30, 2025 AODA Alliance news releases for more on this issue.
Sadly, Steve Paikin has announced that after 19 years of hosting “The Agenda with Steve Paikin,” he will be concluding his role on the show. He is not retiring from journalism. We eagerly await his next adventures in journalism
Over the past 26 years, Steve Paikin has led the way within the journalism community in giving the extensive, fair, and objective media coverage of disability issues that they deserve, such as the need to make our society fully accessible. We again thank him for this leadership among journalists and urge other news organizations to do what they can to follow his lead.
How You Can Help
- Encourage as many people as possible to watch this interview.
- Urge other news organizations to give disability issues the kind of coverage that Steve Paikin has so admirably done.
A total of 152 days have passed since Ontario failed to meet the January 1, 2025 deadline for becoming accessible to people with disabilities set by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. We’re eager to see the Ford Government’s plan of action.