Ontario Liberals Will Lead A Revolution In Elder Care

Providing 400,000 more seniors with home care and ending for-profit long-term care

TORONTO, April 26, 2022 /CNW/ - Steven Del Duca announced today that an Ontario Liberal government will bring sweeping changes to the province's approach to seniors' health care, helping ensure that our parents and grandparents are comfortable, healthy and safe - and most importantly - are able to live at home for life. We will end for-profit long-term care and provide 400,000 more seniors with home care.

Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca speaks with a senior. (CNW Group/Ontario Liberal Party)

The Ontario Liberal approach will be home care-first. It will ensure all seniors get the professional assistance and support they need to stay in their own homes, care that includes help taking a shower, cooking a meal, taking medication, and a friendly face to have a chat with. It is the basic, but essential, care every senior needs.

"The pandemic was a wake-up call that cannot be ignored. We must recognize that institutionalizing seniors through long-term care has been one of the great mistakes of the 20th century. Our plan will transition all senior care to a home care-first approach, while building smaller community-based non-profit homes for those that need them," said Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca.

"This is one of the key choices of this election. We are asking voters to choose the Ontario Liberal Plan to provide home care for everyone while the Conservatives want to keep handing over billions to for-profit corporations that warehouse seniors in their "big box" long-term care facilities," Del Duca continued.

To champion Home Care and help seniors stay safely in their homes, Ontario Liberals will:

• Introduce a Home Care guarantee that will ensure an additional 400,000 seniors have access to homecare in the next four years, prioritizing non-profit care;
• Boost funding for Home Care by over $2 billion through annual 10% increases;
• Build 15,000 more assisted living homes and advance a community care model;
• Expand and make permanent the Seniors' Home Safety Tax Credit that allows seniors to renovate their homes to make them safer; and
• Make the Ontario Caregiver Tax Credit refundable, tax-free and paid out throughout the year and enhance access to support programs and tools for those who take care of loved ones.

For seniors that need long-term care, Ontario Liberals will:

• End all for-profit long-term care homes as quickly as possible with a target of 2028;
• Build and redevelop 58,000 spaces in hundreds of smaller, non-profit care homes that look and feel like actual homes that have PSWs, nurses and other specialists on site 24/7;
• Increase direct care to an average of at least four hours a day; and
• Introduce stronger inspections, fines, and repeal legislation that protects LTC profits and caps wages.

"Instead of worrying about the quality of care for seniors, Doug Ford has put the financial interests of his Conservative friends in the for-profit long-term care sector first. I won't allow this to continue. We will transform how the elderly are cared for in Ontario, and ensure everyone can age with dignity at home."

To ensure closing for-profit homes doesn't lead to longer wait times for seniors with no other option, our plan will build and redevelop 58,000 long term care spaces. This will be done by creating 30,000 new community care spaces by 2028 and redeveloping and modernizing 28,000 existing spaces, all with a new focus on smaller community based homes. Beginning in 2023, an Ontario Liberal government will no longer renew licenses for for-profit long-term care homes, as well as negotiate and finance the transfer of existing homes to not-for-profit entities and municipalities.

"Canadians were horrified at the conditions in Ontario's private homes that led to the army being called in," said Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca. "Yet, despite the fact that seniors in Ontario's for-profit  homes were more likely to die from COVID, Doug Ford and his Conservatives doubled down on big business and private health care - giving them millions in funding, new contracts, and passing legislation removing liability and protecting their profits."

"A Liberal vote will result in guaranteed home care for anyone who needs it and an end for-profit senior care in Ontario. It's your choice."

SOURCE Ontario Liberal Party

Will Wuehr, 613-401-2124, [email protected]