TORONTO – What needs to be done is to eliminate profit from long-term care, but until then Doug Ford “must refuse licence renewal applications to homes that did not protect the elderly during the pandemic.” This is the request NDP leader Andrea Horwath made to the government today during a conference via Zoom from Pickering. In this town there is Orchard Villa, the LTC that has become infamous for the Covid-19 outbreaks that have killed 70 residents. In this Southbridge-owned LTC, the Canadian armed forces have reported a lack of infection control practices as well as cockroach and fly infestations and an inhuman abandonment of residents.

Yet, despite being sued again, twice, for infection control violations, Orchard Villa has applied for permission for an 87-bed expansion and a 30-year license extension. ” I’m calling for the Ford government to refuse to hand out license renewals to the very companies that failed our loved ones – said Horwath who does not hide the inclusion of nursing homes on his party’s election platform – Nearly 4,000 families are still grieving the loss of a loved one who died without anyone to comfort them in their final hours. Handing out license extensions to the companies that allowed this to happen insults the memory of those who have died and threatens the well-being of the survivors. Corporations should not be rewarded while the families they hurt continue to pay the price.”

Horwath attack is directed in particular at for-profit LTC, where, according to the government’s Science Table, twice as many Covid infections were recorded during the pandemic and 78% more deaths than non-profit facilities. “In fact, nearly 60% of all long-term nursing homes in Ontario are for profit, thanks to years of privatization during the Liberal and Conservative government,” Horwath said.

What Ontario’s new Democrats are committed to building, the party leader explains, is an all-public, profit-free system to replace existing for-profit homes and add beds to accommodate an additional 50,000 people. “For-profit corporations are motivated by profits,” Horwath said, “but imagine long-term care entirely focused on the well-being and quality of life of your loved one. We can have enough staff in nursing homes to provide our loved ones with dignified care. We can give families the peace of mind that comes with knowing that dad or grandma are cared for and kept company when we can’t be there. Our families deserve nothing less.”

In the pic: Orchard Villa Long Term Care (torontolife.com)