January 20, 2006

12 of 19 Federal Candidates Take Stands on Disability Issues

CHARLOTTETOWN: The PEI Council of the Disabled today announced that 12 of 19 candidates in the January 23rd federal election had responded to their survey on disability issues, a 63% response rate. Six questions covering issues specific to Islanders with disabilities such as poverty, accessibility, employment and transportation were asked of all PEI candidates in federal race. The responses are on the Council’s web site at www.peicod.pe.ca.

"The Council asked candidates to make their stands known on issues of importance to voters with disabilities," said PEI Council of the Disabled Executive Director, Barry Schmidl, today. "A 2000 study showed that over 80% of Islanders with disabilities vote and we wanted to make sure that they, and other voters were aware of where candidates stood on these issues. While the Council doesn’t endorse any candidate, sometimes a response, or a lack of response, to a survey like this can tell individual voters who deserves to be elected."

The full text of responses were published on the Council’s web site as they were received. The web site also contains information on disability election issues, voter participation and additional election background. Only 8 of 17 candidates in the 2004 federal election responded to a similar survey.

On a Party by Party basis, responses were received from:

• all 4 NDP candidates
• 3 of 4 Green candidates
• 2 of 4 Liberal candidates
• 1 of 4 Conservative candidates
• the sole Marijuana Party candidate and the Independent candidate in Egmont

In the 4 PEI ridings, responses were received from:

• all 4 candidates in Malpeque
• 4 of 6 candidates in Charlottetown
• 2 of 4 candidates in Cardigan
• 2 of 5 candidates in Egmont

The PEI Council of the Disabled was formed in 1974 by a group of concerned people with disabilities to speak out on issues such as housing, employment, education, transportation, human rights, and access to support services. The PEI Council of the Disabled promotes the full participation and inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of Island life.

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For more information contact: Barry Schmidl, Executive Director, 892-9149
or visit the Council's website at www.peicod.pe.ca