What are the parties promising for older adults in the Ontario election?
Ontarians head to the polls this Thursday in the first provincial election since the COVID-19 pandemic awakened many in the province to deep and long-standing issues related to providing long-term care. Voters have not forgotten about it: In an Abacus Data survey, more than one in five respondents said long-term care and care for older adults would affect their vote. And a recent Nanos Research survey found that eight in 10 respondents were at least somewhat dissatisfied with “the quality of long-term care available to seniors.”
So it shouldn’t be surprising that all four major Ontario political parties are making big promises to better support older adults and shore up the systems that care for them as they age. The National Institute on Ageing has compiled a summary of their platform proposals to show where they stand on issues related to ageing. Information about the Progressive Conservatives’ election promises are drawn from their pre-election budget, while the New Democratic Party, Liberal Party and Green Party details are drawn from the parties’ election platforms.
Note: Parties are ordered by the number of seats they held in the legislature when the election was called.
Long-term Care Homes
PC:
Build 30,000 new and 28,000 redeveloped long‐term care (LTC) beds by 2028.
Invest $764 million over two years to provide nurses, including those working in LTC, with a lump sum retention incentive of up to $5,000 per person.
Invest $2.8 billion over the next three years to permanently continue a temporary wage enhancement for more than 158,000 personal support workers (PSWs) and direct support workers.
Invest an additional $8.3 million over three years to add 40 Behavioural Specialized Unit beds at LTC homes in Ajax and Mississauga. These specialized beds offer more intensive health care to patients waiting for LTC.
Improve health data and information sharing between the LTC and acute care sectors.
Develop a consistent survey tool for LTC residents to support comparisons across homes and promote transparency.
NDP:
Immediately begin building 50,000 new and modern LTC beds.
Including smaller homes housing 6-10 residents
Starting in 2022, begin building a new, public and non-profit home and community care and LTC system.
Take immediate action to begin hiring 10,000 PSWs.
Give PSWs a raise of at least $5 above pre-pandemic levels.
Liberal:
Build 30,000 new LTC spaces by 2028 and redevelop 28,000 existing spaces to modern standards, for a total of 58,000 new or updated beds.
Fund 15,000 new assisted living homes, including small, accessible and community-based residential services.
Ensure LTC residents receive at least four hours of direct care every day.
End for-profit LTC by 2028 by no longer renewing licences for for-profit LTC homes, as well as by negotiating and financing the transfer of existing homes to not-for-profit entities and municipalities.
Place audits, inspections and zero-tolerance sanctions on LTC homes that endanger residents or misdirect funds. Enhance inspections to ensure homes don’t endanger residents or fail to meet new standards.
Repeal rules that protect LTC companies from legal liability.
Prevent homes from admitting new residents when they’re not appropriately staffed.
Green:
Build 55,000 LTC beds by 2033 and at least 96,000 by 2041.
Increase base funding for long-term care by 10 per cent.
Mandate a minimum of four hours of nursing and personal care per resident per day, including a minimum of 48 minutes of care provided by a registered nurse and 60 minutes provided by a registered practical nurse.
Phase out for-profit LTC and stop licensing new for-profit homes.
Prioritize licence proposals for small, community-based LTC homes.
Legislate staffing LTC facilities to include a minimum of one nurse practitioner for every 120 residents and a staff composition of 20 per cent registered nurses, 25 per cent registered practical nurses and 55 per cent PSWs.
Fast-track updated staffing plans and ensure consistency of care by requiring full-time PSWs and nursing positions.
Reinstate annual comprehensive inspections of LTC homes without advance notice, and ensure homes with infractions face the legislated consequences.
Repeal Bill 218, which shields LTC owners and operators from liability for negligence.
Create a system of formal oversight for LTC medical directors working with the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Ontario Medical Association.
Better integrate LTC, home-care and caregiver services within the health-care system to properly provide for the complex needs of residents.
Increase LTC resident access to allied health professionals, such as dieticians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and social workers, to a minimum of one hour per day.
Stop contracting out food, housekeeping and laundry services.
Update design standards to improve outbreak management of infectious diseases.
Ensure that residents’ essential caregivers can safely visit them during prolonged infectious disease emergencies.
Amend the Residents’ Bill of Rights by adding the right of LTC residents to accommodations that allow them to live together with their spouse or life partner.
Prioritize healthy, quality local food as an important component of resident well-being.
Home Care and Ageing in Place
PC:
Invest up to $1 billion more over three years for home care.
Introduce a new, refundable Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit to help low‐ to moderate‐income households (earning less than $65,000 family net income) with members over 70 years of age with home care expenses, including attendant care, mobility aids and other medical devices. Recipients can claim up to 25 per cent of eligible expenses to a maximum of $6,000.
Spend $5.5 million in 2022-23 to extend the Ontario Community Support Program, which delivers meals, medicine and other essential items to low‐income older adults and people with disabilities.
NDP:
Establish provincial standards for home and community care services by creating a basket of core services Ontarians are entitled to receive, such as help with meal preparation or nursing care.
Create a provincial Caregiver Benefit Program that provides $400 a month to family caregivers who do not qualify for the existing federal tax credit programs or respite care.
Develop a provincial jobs-matching program to attract and match PSWs and other home and community care workers to communities where they have shared cultural and linguistic knowledge.
Liberal:
Guarantee home care for any older adult who needs it.
Increase the annual budget for home and community care by more than $2 billion through 10 per cent annual increases with a focus on front-line non-profit care, resulting in 400,000 more older adults able to get not-for-profit home care by 2026.
Expand and make permanent the Seniors’ Home Safety Tax Credit, which helps pay for home repairs and assistive devices.
Make the Ontario Caregiver Tax Credit refundable, tax-free and paid out throughout the year and enhance access to support programs and tools.
Green:
Increase funding to home care services by 20 per cent.
Create a standard basket of core home care services that providers must make consistently available across the province.
Collect meaningful quality indicators to hold home care organizations accountable and to promote quality improvements.
Create incentives for retrofitting homes to make them safer and easier to age in place.
Pilot a support program as part of a basic income phase-in for those doing unpaid caregiving in families and communities.
Shift to entirely non-profit home care providers within the public system.
Mandate that PSWs are paid a minimum of $25 an hour and for their travel time between visits.
Make it easier for older adults to live together by streamlining and simplifying the approvals process for cohousing and co-living developments.
Increase support for community centres and neighbourhood coalitions that can help reduce isolation.
Addressing Dementia
PC:
Invest an additional $5 million a year for three years for dementia services.
Liberal:
Create a dementia care network by investing in existing memory clinics and expanding team-based geriatric clinics.
Green:
Mandate continued professional development for LTC staff on practices for caring for residents with dementia.
Equity and Diversity
PC:
Invest $300,000 to help develop educational sessions and program materials in French and to help make LTC services more accessible to Francophone residents and their families.
NDP:
Create culturally appropriate resources and training for home and community care programs.
Guarantee that First Nations Elders have access to home and community care and LTC with staff and practices that reflect their distinct cultures and languages.
Ensure that 2SLGBTQIA+ people have access to LTC that is fully affirming and inclusive.
Increase the number of community health centres and LTC homes by and for Francophones.
Liberal:
Improve training and provide accessible, competent and gender-affirming care for 2SLGBTQIA+ people in elder care, and expand access to safe and affirming LTC homes.
Support the development of more Indigenous LTC homes.
Develop and mandate health equity standards to ensure diverse communities are being treated fairly in health care – including by having LTC homes collect and report on race-based data and incidents of racism.
Green:
Create more Indigenous-led LTC homes and allocate a portion of the new beds to these homes.
Strengthen obligations for LTC licensees to respect and recognize residents’ gender identity, as well as their social, cultural, spiritual and language care needs.
Amend the Residents’ Bill of Rights to align with the prohibited grounds for discrimination in the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Financial Security in Retirement
PC:
Implement a permanent target benefit pension plan framework to provide a monthly income stream in retirement. (Ontario Multi‐Employer Pension Plans, which provide these types of benefits, have been operating under temporary regulations that are set to expire beginning in 2024.) This is an alternative pension plan model, combining features of both the defined benefit and defined contribution pension plan models.
Liberal:
Increase Old Age Security by $1,000 per year for eligible older adults, and increase the income threshold to $25,000 for singles or $50,000 for couples.
Green:
Review the Pension Benefits Act to ensure 100 per cent coverage of defined benefit pensions by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Fund in an involuntary pension plan wind-up.
Improved Governance
Liberal:
Merge the government’s home care functions into one ministry focused on seniors.
Green:
Define the respective roles of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Long-Term Care in addressing health emergencies, and ensure the safety of LTC residents is reflected in any provincial emergency plan.
Compiled by Stephanie MacLellan, NIA Manager of Communications and Public Affairs.