CORNWALL -- 'Crazy' Dave Thomasson is challenging the Ontario government to meet him in Superior Court over his claim that his -- and thousands of others -- charter rights are being violated by provincial legislation.
Thomasson is trying to get the province to change Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) legislation which he claims "hurts thousands of disabled people."
It's a mission he's been on for most of the last decade and, after many court skirmishes with the province, has labelled Premier Dalton McGuinty a "coward, bully and chicken. "
Thomasson, an organic farmer north of Cornwall, said the province needs to hear him out because he isn't allowed to present his charter challenge in the lower courts.
Technically, he can't mount a charter challenge unless he's found guilty by the quasi-judicial Social Benefits Tribunal, which prosecutes ODSP violators.
But he claims the province is purposely letting him get away with violations to prevent a charter challenge.
Recently at a tribunal appeal hearing, tribunal chair Rosemary Walden-Stephan found him not guilty of violating an ODSP directive, which requires him to verify his 2008 income from farming.
"The kicker is that (Walden) knew I have not verified my income since 2005 and could have convicted me on 'balance of probabilities,'" Thomasson said in an email to the Standard- Freeholder.
"It's a kind of deliberate deafness that allows ODSP to ignore the charter and discriminate against disabled people without ever officially 'hearing' a charter defence," he said.
Now Thomasson has another opportunity to challenge the province.
Earlier this month, he was again requested by ODSP to verify his farming income for not just 2008, but also 2009.
Of course, Thomasson won't. "I refuse to verify my (income) until someone, anyone, clearly proves the ODSP Act is constitutional," he said in a letter to Cornwall ODSP office on Montreal Road.
In the past, the Ministry of Community and Social Services, which operates the ODSP, has declined to comment about Thomasson's actions, due to client-relationship privacy concerns.