Protecting Long Term Care residents should be priority at First Minister’s Meeting

December 10, 2020

QUEEN’S PARK — Mike Schreiner released the following statement regarding of the objectives of today’s First Minister’s meeting:

“As of today, there are 118 COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities in Ontario with 2,358 deaths and over 9,000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

The iron ring Doug Ford promised to build around long term care has failed to materialize.

In the early days of the pandemic, we were a nation in crisis. The collaboration between the federal and provincial governments was a positive sign for Canadians.

I appreciate help from the federal government to set standards of care for LTC. But we need more federal funding and a coordinated plan among all levels of government to completely overhaul the way we care for elders.

Elders can’t wait four years for minimum standards of care, as Ford proposes.

They need support now, but Doug Ford lacks the political will.

After finally agreeing to 4 hours of care per day, the Premier failed to fund this promise in his budget. Instead of using the summer months to prepare for the second wave, Ford sat on $12 Billion in Covid funds.

Given the current crisis facing LTC, it is unacceptable that elder care was not on the First Minister’s meeting agenda today. We need action now to prevent any more unnecessary deaths.”

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