For immediate release:
November 29, 2006  

Long-term care act – Seniors deserve better

The Ontario Government is receiving unprecedented opposition to the proposed Long-Term Care Homes Act.

After meeting with various stakeholders, I’ve realized the proposed long-term care act is fundamentally flawed. It creates separate tiers of seniors’ care, and represents another broken promise by Premier McGuinty.

In 2003, Mr. McGuinty looked citizens in the eye, and promised them each $6,000 of funding for long-term care. Under Bill 140, that promise has been officially broken.

According to the Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes and Services for Seniors (OANHSS), Bill 140 will have serious implications for the viability of the not-for-profit long term care sector. Rather than using government funding for resident care and services, long-term care homes will be forced to divert funds to pay for bureaucracy and paperwork.

The Ontario Long Term Care Association (OLTCA) is also expressing outrage at the current legislation, pointing out that 35,000 residents – along with their families, homes and communities – have been forgotten under Bill 140.

According to the OLTCA, the proposed law ensures 35,000 residents will continue living in three or four bed wards, lining up in wheel chairs waiting for elevators to take them to eat in a crowded dining room, as it contains no plan or funding commitment for the renewal of older homes. Worse yet, the new law confirms that Premier McGuinty is prepared to sentence 35,000 seniors to beds that meet 1972 design standards.

A strong contrast is now evident between the current government and the previous government, when it comes to investing in long-term care.

The former government was known for strategic investment – $2.1 billion was announced in 1998 to build 20,000 brand new beds, and to rebuild 16,000 of the province’s oldest beds.

Let’s be clear – it is unacceptable for this current government to have no plan to build on the strategic investment of the former government. Realizing this, Opposition Health Critic, Elizabeth Witmer, introduced a motion calling on the McGuinty government to “commit to a plan of action to invest in an effective capital renewal program for Ontario's 35,000 older long-term-care beds so that they meet the 1998 design standards and so that all residents can have a home to live in with the comfort and dignity they deserve.”

The Ontario Legislature approved the motion – but Premier McGuinty has given no indication that he will comply.

In a recent statement to the Ontario Legislature, I criticized the waste and mismanagement in the health care system. For example, rather than spending $90 million to close Community Care Access Centres, the government could have raised the food allowance for seniors to $7 daily – the current allowance is less than one gets in prison.

As a society, we have to ask ourselves whether it’s fair to sentence seniors to structurally non-compliant beds and a smaller food allowance than inmates. I believe the answer is no. Therefore, I cannot support the proposed legislation in its current form.

Concerned residents have been phoning, writing, and visiting my office to express their opposition to Bill 140 – which is why I spoke against its passage in the Ontario Legislature.

Seniors built this country – they deserve better. In the coming months, the campaign to give our seniors dignity will be heating up. Premier McGuinty should be careful – he’s made his bed, he will now have to lie in it.