NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh vowed on Wednesday in Essex, Ontario, said that he would bring an end to the far-too-high and tragic price care workers and our loved ones have been forced to pay in for-profit long-term care homes.
“While our loved ones and their care workers were suffering through the worst of the pandemic, [Liberal Leader] Justin Trudeau refused to take on the big corporations who profit from long-term care,” said Singh. “Mr. Trudeau promised do more, but even now, as the fourth wave of COVID-19 is growing and the number of cases across Canada are rising again, it’s people in need – our parents and our grandparents – who will again be forced to pay the price for his empty promises. Instead of taking action to help them, Justin Trudeau called this selfish snap election to help himself.”
The NDP said that given the opportunity to make things better, Trudeau teamed up with Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole and voted to keep profit-driven long-term care. And he failed to deliver on a commitment to establish national standards and refused to hold big corporations to them.
It said that when workers risked their lives to care for seniors in the worst moments of the pandemic, Trudeau did nothing to increase their wages. Instead, he handed out billions to for-profit care companies that used the money for CEO bonuses and shareholder pay outs.
Singh vowed to take the profit out of long-term care and to invest over $10 billion to improve long term care homes, including increasing wages and benefits for workers.
“Health care workers risked their lives to care for our loved ones. It’s not enough to thank them—we need to pay them, protect them and respect them,” said Singh. “Justin Trudeau wants you to think there’s a limit to how much we can improve long-term care, but I know better is possible. Canadians can vote for the NDP and create a brighter future for workers and our loved ones in long-term care.”