Ontario is unveiling new long-term care legislation. Here's what advocates want in it
CBC
Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government will reveal new legislation Thursday for the province's long-term care homes, where COVID-19 outbreaks killed more than 3,800 people during the pandemic.
Advocates for seniors are describing this as a now-or-never moment for Ontario to improve long-term care and the living conditions of the vulnerable elderly who reside there.
The government is pledging that its bill will bring better accountability, enforcement and transparency to the nursing home sector and enshrine residents' rights.
The long-awaited legislation has been repeatedly promised and foreshadowed by the government since a commission slammed the province for failing long-term care residents both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic began ripping through Ontario's 626 homes.
Minister of Long-Term Care Rod Phillips announced on Tuesday plans for Ontario to beef up enforcement by doubling the number of long-term care inspectors and by mounting proactive inspections of homes, something the Ford government all but scrapped shortly after taking office, as revealed by a CBC News investigation.
The long-term care sector needs more than just a change in legislation or stricter enforcement, says Lisa Levin, CEO of AdvantAge Ontario, an association representing more than 200 not-for-profit and municipally run homes.
"We need to transform the system," said Levin in an interview with CBC News. "We are at a critical juncture now in long-term care. If we don't have significant changes now, I don't know if we ever will. This is our moment. This is our opportunity to really change the system."
Ontario's long-term care homes have been underfunded and under-resourced for years, Levin said.
"Unfortunately, it took the tragic death of thousands of people through COVID-19 for the public and government to recognize that we need major changes," she said.
Levin says the government is "heading in the wrong direction" by awarding for-profit operators 60 per cent of its contracts to build new long-term care homes.
The group that represents predominantly privately owned facilities, the Ontario Long-Term Care Association, recently released its recommendations for reforms.
People whose loved ones have lived in long-term care are looking to Thursday's bill with much anticipation.
Vivian Stamatopoulos began her advocacy before the onset of COVID-19 when her grandmother was living in a home and became a prominent spokesperson during the pandemic.
The system "really needs drastic reformation," said Stamatopoulos, an assistant teaching professor at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ont. She's concerned that legislative amendments alone won't make a significant difference.
A day after two elderly Vancouver Island women told RCMP they had been scammed for thousands of dollars, a man walked into the detachment saying he took their money during his delivery work and was unsure if what he was doing was legal.
Schools across the Hamilton, Niagara, Burlington and Brantford areas are closed today after the area was hit with a winter storm overnight.
All school buses in Windsor and Essex County are cancelled on Thursday morning according to Windsor-Essex Student Transportation Services.
Newly released court documents in the case of Jack and Lilly Sullivan offer more details on the relationship between their mother and stepfather leading up to the children's disappearance more than eight months ago.
Another sawmill in northwestern Ontario is being shut down indefinitely.
Heavy snow throughout the Greater Toronto Area is forcing residents to rethink their Thursday morning schedules due to transit delays and a number of school closures.
Pack your patience and bundle up because Thursday is going to be a snowy and cold day in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County.
An N.W.T. judge has ruled that a complicated dispute involving Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation (LKDFN) and the accounting firm KPMG should mostly be heard in open court, and not through a separate arbitration process.
In military deterrence lingo, what we're witnessing in Greenland is sometimes referred to as the "glass plate" or the "tripwire."
Canada's top court is hearing final arguments on Thursday in a case resurfacing former prime minister Justin Trudeau's role in the WE Charity scandal, which could bring sweeping changes to how Canadians hold their elected officials accountable.
National home sales in Canada declined by 1.9 per cent in December compared to the same period a year earlier, according to a report published by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) on Wednesday, capping a year that saw lower interest rates but heightened economic anxiety.
Ontario sent a blunt message to U.S. booze suppliers when it yanked their alcohol off its shelves last year, pledging to redirect customers to local producers, and those businesses say they’re trying to make the most of what could be a limited-time opportunity to change buying habits.
While airing video on Wednesday of large funeral processions for some of the people killed during the protests that have recently gripped the country, Iran's state broadcaster blamed the U.S. for whipping up and leading the “terrorist actions.”