| LEGISLATIVE
ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO
Official
Record of Debate
(Hansard)
LONG
TERM CARE FUNDING
May
12, 2004
Mr
Ted Arnott (Waterloo-Wellington): I'm glad to have the
chance to speak in support of the motion brought forward
this afternoon by the MPP for Kitchener-Waterloo, who
also serves as our party's health critic. Members of
the House should agree that the breadth of her experience
as Ontario's health minister -- one of finest ministers
of health in our province's history -- her experience
and compassion have been demonstrated in a highly effective
way in her capacity as the official opposition spokesperson
for health.
This
resolution speaks to the need to ensure that senior
citizens who live in long-term-care facilities receive
the highest-quality, compassionate care that our society
can provide, more commonly referred to as nursing homes.
I think all members of the House will concur that the
provincial government has an important responsibility
in this regard. When assessing priorities, care for
our senior citizens, our beloved parents, grandparents,
aunts and uncles, must rank among highest obligations
entrusted to any level of government.
1650
In
recent days, seniors who live in nursing homes, the
caring staff who work in nursing homes, volunteers who
provide support in nursing homes and the families of
the residents have been unnecessarily alarmed because
of the actions of this government.
Dozen
of people have written to me from the Westmount in Kitchener,
which is a brand new nursing home in Waterloo-Wellington.
It was approved and constructed during our party's tenure
in government. The Westmount's administrator, Linda
Schertzberg, advised me about this government's outrageous
retroactive clawback of the property tax rebate and
how it put the Westmount nursing home in a severe financial
bind, which would have eventually in some way impacted
negatively on resident care.
By
coincidence, I met Ms Schertzberg on the same day that
the Minister of Health, the member for Toronto Centre-Rosedale,
was visiting our area. I attended a forum on e-health
that had been sponsored by our local CCAC and the minister
was there to bring brief greetings. I actually had the
chance to introduce Ms Schertzberg to the minister as
he was leaving the event.
In
any case, as we've heard from the member for Kitchener-Waterloo,
the property tax rebate for nursing homes was a program
that was maintained under our government, but apparently
not so with this government. When faced with a budgetary
challenge, the minister pursued a policy of arbitrary
cuts instead of meeting with the long-term-care sector:
the administrators, the staff, the seniors they care
for and their families, all of whom were put through
extreme distress over whether or not the funding would
be there and would be adequate to provide the care that
seniors deserve.
Why
did this happen? We can point to fiscal mismanagement
on the part of the government that has caused this distress
in recent weeks. We can even call it another pre-budget
trial balloon that was floated by this government, underlining
their fundamental incompetence. Or, I will ask, is their
policy motivated out of spite and vindictiveness because
our government had an excellent working relationship
with the long-term-care sector?
No
matter what we conclude, I believe this much to be true:
I believe that the government's recent decision, made
just last Sunday -- Mother's Day, an unusual day to
conduct government business, to say least -- was done
because of the hard work and highly effective job done
by our health critic. In raising awareness of this clawback,
she forced the government to back off on the clawback,
for 2003 at least. The government probably finally realized
the full consequences of having to defend themselves
today as we debate this important resolution. Clearly,
the government felt it could not withstand the strong
arguments of the opposition today unless it took pre-emptive
action.
During
the 14 years I've had the privilege of serving as a
member of provincial Parliament, I have made it a habit
from time to time to visit seniors in nursing homes
and to talk to them about the care they're receiving
and what could be done to improve their daily lives.
To
be fair, the government also announced new funding yesterday
in response to the study undertaken by the minister's
parliamentary assistant. According to the government,
some $191 million will be forthcoming to upgrade care
in existing nursing homes by hiring 600 new nurses and
1,400 other staff, including personal support workers,
dietitians, therapists and nurse practitioners. However,
there are some questions that have arisen over whether
this is new money and whether it will be forthcoming
in future years. However, these numbers serve to underscore
the importance of the personal support workers in terms
of the overall care provided in nursing homes. Therefore,
it's important to state again my support for the maintenance
of OHIP coverage for chiropractic, podiatry, optometry
and physiotherapy services, especially as they relate
to the care of senior citizens.
In
my responsibilities as a member of provincial Parliament,
when asked to bring forward the ideas and concerns of
my constituents, in the 14 years I've been privileged
to be here it has never been a question as to how important
the concerns of seniors are. They must be among our
high priorities. How we treat our seniors reflects on
who we are as individuals, who were are as a society,
and is a basic measure of our compassion.
I
think I can say that as result of the tabling of this
resolution some days ago, the government has responded
and recognized that long-term care is important to the
people of this province, irrespective of how long it's
taken them to correct their mistake in attempting to
impose a clawback of the property tax rebate and announce
some new funding, as they have just yesterday.
I
want to say that I agree there may be a need for unannounced
inspection visits in some nursing homes in the province.
I've had the opportunity to visit nursing homes many
times in my riding, as I said earlier. By and large,
my visits have been unannounced and I have found the
care being offered to residents in my riding to be very
good to excellent. There may, however, be some homes
in the province where they need to take remedial measures
to improve care. Certainly we cannot in any way tolerate
substandard care or, even worse, any physical abuse
or neglect of our elderly. The government has an important
role to ensure that appropriate standards are indeed
maintained.
In
closing, I want to reiterate my strong support for this
motion. I realize a number of my colleagues wish to
speak to this motion as well. In the interests of time,
I will yield the floor to them.
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