By Zaid Noorsumar
Premier Doug Ford and his PC government are moving ahead with their new home and community care legislation. According to the Ontario Health Coalition, the legislation will further enable privatization of home care and remove the existing provisions of public control and accountability.
The legislation was being pushed through the Ontario legislature before the government’s attention was diverted by the pandemic.
Now that Ford is determined to “re-open the economy,” the government is moving ahead with its home care agenda. It has allocated three days of public hearings for Bill 175, Connecting People to Home and Community Care Act 2020, from June 15 to 17.
“This legislation has been created in the backrooms without any public consultation,” said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition. “It is being railroaded through at break-neck speed before the vast majority of the more than 750,000 people impacted even know that it is happening.”
Private interests and profit margins
The Ontario Health Coalition says that the new legislation will dismantle all remaining public governance and control of home care.
Home care is currently coordinated by 14 Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) across the province, which outsource the delivery of care to agencies – most of which are for-profit and notorious for exploitative practices.
Bill 175 will hand over the coordination to newly-formed Ontario Health Teams, which are loose coalitions of for-profit and not-for-profit agencies set to replace the LHINs. The Health Teams will be overseen by Ontario Health, a “super agency” that functions with no accountability or oversight.
“This is poor policy that benefits private interests seeking to increase their market share or their profit margins but it does not serve the public interest,” Mehra said.
“The Super Agency (Ontario Health) is governed by a Board that is not subject to the Ontario public service legislation regarding conflict of interest and includes an array of pro-privatization business people, bankers and corporate executives, has no regulations for public input, open board meetings, public access to information and even less democratic protections than the LHINs,” reads the Health Coalition’s analysis of Bill 175.
Ontario Health’s Board of Directors includes Shelly Jamieson, who was previously the executive director of the Ontario Long-Term Care Association, the lobby group that mainly represents for-profit nursing homes.
Further reading:
Ontario Health Coalition’s Bill 175 Briefing Note
How the hunt for profits has shaped Ontario’s home care sector (rabble.ca)
Power, profit and politics in Ontario’s home care sector (rabble.ca)
Pandemic pay doesn’t cut it for home care workers (Rankandfile.ca)

No surprise that this government cares NOT for the welfare of seniors, or frontline workers!
No please this is unconscionable….you see the condition of the seniors during the pandemic. You have a responsibility to maintain a safe and secure environment for the people of Ontario….the residents and their families.
Care and mercy over profit…
Show the people of this province you have seen the deplorable conditions in LTC H…vow to never let this happen AGAIN!!!!
100% agree! Living conditions of privately owned care homes can be deplorable at best. Bill 175 must be stopped!
Mr Ford who are you fooling pushing this through yet telling us daily you are taking responsibility for the cut to health care now THIS!!
SAY it isn’t so, people over profits!!!! WE aLL know and have proof for profit homes cut service to make more $$$, why can’t you see and understand what the rest of us get?? WE need to Cancel all private homes, or have such extreme over view and watching, there must be a very detailed proposal given to Ontarians to vote on, we must have every client’s family given monthly flow and detailed charts as to # of staff, hours, meals, # of diapers used/person..ALL meds and baths/showers/etc counted and charted..Have 2 signatures on everything. Also all staff must be full time with benefits, and homes should have no more people as group homes for disabled, the seniors have paid for no less..FORD, if your party ever hopes to be elected again, you better prove you are with us, not with rich getting richer.
This is talking about home care, not LTC. So basically PSWs that go into the home of the elderly and provide care.
Everything Trudy stated is absolutely the truth!! The CoVid19 pandemic has given more than enough evidence! FORD..You said that the situation in this section of healthcare is not new and has been happening for DECADES! Do what is right.. for the dignity, health and safety of residents/clients. And for PSW’s.. full time positions & wage increases.
So this means his tears and comments are bullcrap? Please call him out on this as he has been saying just the opposite needs to be done
We need to focus on solutions that help maintain people at home. That requires services that are people focused, not profit focused.
I worked for a CCAC prior to privatization of professional services. The team approach to client care it provided was cost saving in itself.
Our citizens, and now especially with the COVID reality, need to know they are receiving the best standard if care with coordination of services and government protection
I agree Beth. Surely we have learned that our LTC homes that are private are a mess and their clients are being abused physically and more importantly by lack of care, food and hygiene.
Pardon my naïveté, but perhaps we need to go back to the old ways. Previous generations venerated their elderly and kept them living with them until they died. Some cultures still do that in modern times. Why do we need to stick our own elderly in some home and forget them or,conversely, have them live in their own homes and be cared for by strangers?
I am in that senior group and I truly hope I die before either of these scenarios happens to me!!!
The same government that claims to be apalled at the conditions in long term care is pushing ahead with more of the same for long term care and now for home care. Get ready to care for yourselves folks or pay big bucks to profiteers!
Hey Marta tough times ahead
This is the most disgusting About Face of a government I have ever seen in my septuagenarian life. Whenever I think it is no longer possible to shock me, politicians somewhere manage to do it again. Doug Ford’s mealy mouthed act about how shocked he was at the state of seniors’ exploitation by his buddies who charged exorbitant rates to starve and dehydrate seniors, leave them in piss soaked beds covered in faeces, and expedite them out of life by hastening their contracting and dying of COVID 19 may have fooled his sycophants but not the average Citizen of Ontario! He can’t even wait for COVID 19 to be eradicated but rushes to continue on to further privatization of Long Term Care Facilities. He has absolutely NO SHAME! I am sickened to my stomach.
Do
Why don’t they just take us out to pasture and shoot us!!
I am very concerned and disappointed that the Ford Government, given our recent experience with long term care homes, wants to proceed with this Bill. At lease fix one problem before you create another.
This system is badly broken and we need to improve it not make it worse. Please keep accountablility for long term care facilities in place,
The Private for profit homes were the ones that the Bodies came from . Do you really want more.
Stop and THINK
After all we have just seen, it is obvious privatization is not the choice to make.
The whole system needs to be overhauled and if the government doesn’t see this its time for them to step out as well. Big mess whether its private or provincial.
This is unbelievable! What can we do to help?
Sheila Pither, President, Council of Senior Citizens’ Organizations of British Columbia
I thought that Ford was doing a good job with this pandemic. I have changed my mind. This is the worst thing he could do. Old people will continue to die while they’re in those privately owned homes. If I was going to vote for him I have certainly changed my mind.
Agree, enfatically, to Sherry’s post ! Who do we contact in the council of senior citizens’ otganizations of Ontario!
Ford never cared about seniors in these deplorable conditions. It’s all about his friends and safe face with them. This stood in front of Ontario and pledge his commitment. Well hope we all see through him and vote his sorry ass out. Disgusting act to seniors, hope gets the opportunity to be in need of this service soon. Mealy mouth Ford!!
This is unforgivable! Conservatives lack compassion and intelligence. As they are putting people’s lives at risk, this constitutes a vote of non-confidence!
Agree!
Is someone planning to call him out during his press conferences?
We need more standardization and accountability, not less. This piece of legislature will make Home Care, which is vital for people to stay in their homes and not take up placements in hospitals and long term care homes, with little or no government oversight. This is not the direction to go. Premier Ford seemed to realize that, even in a State of Emergency, the government’s hands were tied when it came to overseeing and managing the Covid outbreaks in long term care homes. The intent, I think, is to have some co-ordination of these various Home Care businesses/services, but the government needs to do that. To go the other way with this legislature, will give them more freedom to exploit vulnerable citizens in order to make a profit. These services must be efficient, reliable and accountable.
This privatisation is just WRONG ! I am appalled !
With what has happened in retirement homes and become VERY apparent during the current “Covid-19” pandemic, there absolutely needs to be government oversight and responsibility for our seniors. No ands, ifs or buts. To relinquish oversight control is a travesty that will only make rich people richer on the backs and lives of others.
What has happened, in my estimation. borders on being criminal. Drop this proposed bill NOW and get your heads on straight.
I have a niece who is a PSW and she used to tell us some horror stories of the 2 nursing homes she worked in to make a living. They only gave her enough hours so they didn’t have to pay her benefits.
Yes that is very true ! And if by chance they get busy and you finally qualify for benefits you soon loose it again when they do cut backs of hours. It’s a horrible way to treat staff that work hard under difficult situations. And if you get injuries on the job , your kicked to the curb!
We need to get out and be very vocal about all of this back room policies going on !
Home Care is a disaster that is worse than the long term care home. Health care workers are under valued and burned out and are actively leaving the sector. The leadership in the government has set such low standards of care that it is impossible for the care givers to do their jobs.
Do you want what happened to the Ltc homes to happen with home care. You let them go private and killed thousands of seniors. Do your friends want to own these now.
Does Ford not see what is going on?! Does he not know that “for profit” homes are the worst in properly caring for our elderly? After all that has happened lately, I am truly flabbergasted!
It would appear that Doug Ford and his fellow Conservatives have learned nothing from the disastrous policies of the Mike Harris Conservatives in allowing the increase of Private ownership in the long-term care Sector, resulting in the deaths and abuse of hundreds of seniors during this pandemic in particular and generous profits for their shareholders. Sadly the most vulnerable in our society will once again pay the price. Instead of taking this opportunity to develop legislation, standards and oversight to protect the Seniors and other vulnerable people in their homes, they are simply ensuring that Home Care will be added to the list of services for seniors that failed them. The issues of working conditions, salaries, and on-going education would have been a much more worthwhile use of their time than ramming through this legislation, and would serve to demonstrate that they understand the problems and are prepared to ensure that they do not continue. No one can do a good job without the proper tools, job security, respect and safe working conditions.
This is the worst thing that Ontario can do. So many homes that are for cash do that think only about the bottom line and not what is best for each client. Even when the ministry or public health come to do inspections they give several days notice. Staffing often comes from agencies and aren’t familiar while the residents in the home.Other homes have untrained staff. Homes run with few full time and often only get one day off not 2 together and the expectation is that you work on your days off. Equipment is not always provided including briefs and bed pads. People are paying for quality care and not always receiving it
For profit is not the only way to go.
Long term care and retirement homes need the extra help, but look at all the homes that are in disarray, because of being privately owned. They need some reality checks. Our seniors need the HELP.
Should Doug Ford continue to work on and manage to pass Bill 175, despite his public display of disgust and outrage, it is to be hoped that he himself will end up in a “for profit long term seniors residence where he will end his days as so many of our seniors have crying for help.
My husband and I are totally against privatization! Look what has happened so far in the care centres! The owners are concerned with their profits not the well being of those who are paying for their welfare while living in these centres/homes.
Please keep them so they will have proper oversight, care, the right for union workers to work good hours, have appropriate wages, supplies they need and for the clients to have anything they need and the kind of life they deserve after years of keeping our country the way it is..
We do not need companies who are concerned with earning their high incomes from afar, taking care of our aging population who have earned the rights to great living at a fair price themselves, not having to worry that those in charge don’t really care.
Very well said ! Sadly, we are where we are because the health care fails to be be preventative. Do nothing now pay later!!
So nothing has been learned from this pandemic. If the Ontario government allows for more price for profit long term care we will be in worst condition with the next pandemic. We need it to be government run so there is better monitoring. They will have even less employees and less care to save money. They will not buy PPE to save money and the food will go down hill to save more money. The food will become more processed. Going private just does not make sense when during this pandemic they have proven they don’t take care of the staff or residents. You think for one minute that they won’t revert back to old methods as soon as they are out of the media’s watchful eye. And then what?
Ford is nuts to do this. All provincial governments should be moving away from for profit long-term care. Lessons from the pandemic are clear! Proper health care standards and monitoring are essential. The elderly are not commodities for profit! Shame on Ford!
People of Ontario, remember this disaster, next election!
Has the Ford government learned nothing from the pandemic that has decimated the residents of long term care homes ? Did he not say that this would be his area of specific concern and that he would make sure there was public examination and inspection and measures taken to ensure that this horror could not happen again .Privatization of any part of health care is so fundamentally wrong . How can you equate first class health care with a profit line ? Why are long term care facilities not under the same umbrella as hospitals so that they have the same standard of well trained , well paid staff and enough of them to do the job ?
That is a bad idea. He should take an example from what is happening in privatized long-term nursing homes and retirement home.
very disappointed with Premier Ford and his hypocritical concerns which he has recently expressed. Money is the matter at hand, obviously….
This is disgusting ! Everyone deserves proper care and staff deserve a decent wage. What is wrong with this picture people like I said we need to take this advocacy to the streets. How long do you think Ford would send in the Army for! Days, weeks!! PSW’S are unregulated we have the right to collectively walk off the job , I have always gone above and beyond but how is that helping the standard of Senior Care. The Government doesn’t care, they have been paying lip service to our Association and behind the backs of democracy have been dismantling public health care so the richer get rich and the seniors get substandard care. A massive walk out would stop owners and government in their tracks. I know many Seniors who would applaud this stand up for what is right. Do the hard thing, don’t back down because that is their fabric, that is how they built this Country, by doing what was right and fair for all.
So very disappointed, angry and feel I was deceived by the Conservative Ptovincial Govt. Shame.
No to for profit Home care.
Changes need to be made to home care but not this..
Most agencies that provide care at home are for profit now.
An agency needs to manage this to provide the authorization to the providers.
This has to manage the clients as well as the agencies.
The government has cut back enough health services and we see the results in Long term care with increased deaths.
Do not let this government push this one.
Home care needs some changes as in community centers of home care with agencies managed locally not larger systems.
Family health teams and home care can work together with agencies.
PC’s pedaling backwards even after all the death horrors of privitization
Most concerned with out controls how can we as a province insure quality care?
Doug Ford has lied to us about fixing the Long Term Care Homes. He had this Bill in the works before the Covid Pandemic. This Commision he says he is establishing is nothing but a cover up & a waste of tax payers money!!
Bring the sneakiness to light in the newspaper, online and by other social media platforms also CARP
For Profit is just that!!
I’m fearful if this goes ahead and I have to go into long term care some years down the road. What will happen to me?????
Terrifying!!
Obviously any legislation regarding the structure of Long Term Care needs to await the recommendations of the Public Inquiry that will analyse what is needed to promote meaningful and enriched end of life experience for us.
Gary 78
Well, so much for caring about seniors. So Dougie was just giving lip service to the arby’s assessment of how these places are run. Hope someone he cares about gets into one of these hell holes. Disgusting.
This is atrocious. After the military report of the conditions found in long term care and retirement home and all the deaths caused by the Pandemic and they’re still trying to push this through. Anybody who thought that Ford had changed his stripes must see the truth now. He’s always been for business only and that had not changed despite his pretence that he cares.
Sylvia, you have it right as does everyone here. Mr. Ford, Christine Elliot and co. you are not giving the elderly OR anyone in care homes a fighting chance. Please take a look at the deplorable conditions I sent to you premier Ford. Is this dignity? Everyone is entitled to human dignity. Do you need a crash course on the UDHR? Must I spell it out?
No, no, no. The care costs roughly the same, in public or private, as far as I can see, yet private long term care seem able to rake off massive profits for CEO’s and shareholders on the backs of our elders. Those profits are coming from all the issues we are learning about now with the Covid-19 epidemics. No!
This bill 175 will only make matters worse in these LTC homes. This is not solving anything other than taking the responsibility from the government. This is not looking after the people of Ontario. This is incompetents. Our seniors deserve better than this & to sneak this through before the majority of people know about this bill says Ford knows this is not the right thing to do. He is turning his back on this problem just like he did when they received the inspection letter in 2019 notifying the government of the problems in these homes. This is the provincial governments jurisdiction & they should be forced to clean this mess up. Privatization does not work & these homes have proven that. People pay thousands a month to be cared for properly & they are not getting any kind of proper care & the money goes to the CEO & shareholders. This is so wrong. This is corruption. There are major new regulations that need to be put into place to insure the residents are looked after with the best of care, enough staff to do that & funding for proper safety equipment. I am sick with this. I am 66 years old & my health is not good. My son helps me, thank god. I will die first before ever going into one of these homes.
As a resident in a well-run, caring privately owned retirement residence but a client of LINH I’m appalled at this news.
Disgusting. Contact your MPP and tell them if they support this they will never get your vote especially if they are Conservative. Many of the conservatives rely on older citizens for their base.
The Ministry of Health has for many years made the LHIN and now the new Ontario Health accountable to no one except themselves. It has the same status as a federal Crown Corporate. They’re corrupt and vindictive and the patients/users are governed unfairly and threatened daily with termination of services.
The government is trying anything to divert the public’s attention and to reduce their accountability. No one is being held accountable! Whistle blowers that try to stop the horrible neglect and abuse and report issues to management, lose their jobs. Inspectors are obviously not doing their job, nor are the directors of these homes. The government is basically murdering our seniors because they also are not holding people accountable. It makes me sick to my stomach to watch what is happening. When are charges gonna start getting laid on the inspectors, owners, operators and workers committing these offenses? Anyone who sees what is happening and does nothing about it, is just as guilty as the ones who are abusing and neglecting those they are being paid to care for. The human rights tribunal is also a waste of tax payer dollars and a joke. They are just another mat the government uses to sweep peoples concerns under. When is it gonna change? When will the abusers be held accountable?
Very sneaky.
This proves that Ford has learned nothing from the impact of COVI-19 on our LTCs.
Word.
Grant Dale, I couldn’t agree with you more! What a lying hypocrite! He certainly put on a good show acting like he cared about the horrific conditions of our LTC homes and was going to make necessary changes, to a very overdue broken system… yet, is behind the scenes pandering to his cronies!! Shame!! Shame!! Step down you fraud!! ; (
I am in my 95th year and still living on my own. Have been so glad I had not decided to be living in a Nursing Home with so many deaths from the Pandemic in the For Profit Homes, my children are as well.
I at first thought Mr. Ford was doing well in his comments on T.V. and making good decisions, but at the same time he was putting money in the pockets of already well to do people by not having the Government involved in overseeing of thePeggie running of the Homes. Shame. We elderly folk will all be hoping we die at home and not have to go to one of these money maker for private companies. My wish would be that many people would complain to their Member of the Ontario Government they do not want this legislation. It will affect the care for elderly people as we have seen in this current crisis. Peggie Dickie Fergus Ontario.
This is absolutely disgusting! I guess the powers that be have learned nothing. The big shots that make the rules don’t have to worry about their loved ones because they will be able to afford the very best of care homes. Their family members will be given the very best of care because they won’t want to anger the people with the power.
Doug Ford’s crocodile tears while he expressed his horror at the stories he was hearing from the army personal show us now how phoney he is!
I was actually beginning to like him while I listened to his daily updates. I didn’t hear as much of Trudeau’s daily updates but was actually beginning to like him better also. My respect for both of them is right back where it was precovoid 19, in the gutter.
How we care for our most vunerable can not be put into a capitalist system and still provide good care. For- profit agencies do not put the client first but the stockholders. This is greed and does not fit in our Canadian society.
How dare he!!! How dare the PCs. Not a lesson learned. I guess he will be placed in the “not private nor not for profit home”. We, as a collective, have learned nothing.
This is outrageous. How can we speak out against this? Is there a petition to sign?
Doug ford needs to get sick and need the lhin as i have dealt with them for over 10 years now i am doing it again as my dad has had a stroke doug ford stop now before you really eff up stuff like the nursing homes are in such a state now from private people terrible terrible doing that shit
Ridiculous. When will the government realize how unfair this is for our parents and grandparents. I guess it will take more then a pandemic!
Wha???? Hello, but privatized long term care is so totally not working https://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca/index.php/death-rates-in-long-term-care-by-ownership-release/. Why would privatization work for home care? Obviously public oversight has a positive effect in this domain (if you think positive mean people stay alive). Capitalism isn’t a cure all for everything.
Just ridiculous. Where does accountability for responsible care fit in here!
A solid position of hypocrisy. What about getting results of investigations FIRST before legislation .
This is why Ford is downplaying a public inquiry regarding LTC.
This is terrible especially in light of the disaster privately operated nursing homes are in during the coronavirus. Has he forgotten the fact that the army had to step in and the disgusting report they submitted. There needs to be government oversight to protect our loved ones.
I agree that this bill should not be passed! I have had experience with searching out a Long Term Facility for my husband. I visited many Facilities, fully aware that he would probably be placed at the first available opening owing to severe shortage at that time of beds. Some of the Homes were truly not what I could envision placing a loved one in, they were appalling! It was our good fortune that an opening occurred at Sunnyside LT in Kitchener,Ont.It is owned by the Region of Waterloo, non profit! He received excellent care there, I know because I was there nearly every day for 3 1/2 years! The staff there worked very hard but were clearly understaffed constantly. My family and I were able to take some of the stress the staff felt by being there so often. Not many residents had family able to offer this help. This bill will only make a bad situation worse. Bette (Alice) Moore. 519 885-0828.
The rich will get richer,and the rest will die needlessly.
I’m so happy that my Dad is at home with me, not in a long term care facility. He is 98 years old, I do not feel his needs would be met in the plan to implement privatization of nursing care homes. He has been exposed to a positive COVID-19 PSW, he has remained well, no symptoms! Obviously he is in an at risk group more susceptible than due to his age and underlying health issues. I’m very disappointed to hear re the plan to increase the privatization of the LTC facilities. I have worked part time in the home care setting and I would try to pick up more patients to make up for a full time salary. We all have bills to pay!!!!
This must be challenged. No retirement or care facilities should be private. Care for our seniors is the responsibility of the government. It should not be a “for profit”business. This crisis has shown the horrific results of privatization in that sector. Mr. Ford should stop courting his coneys and provide safe affordable over meat run care for our seniors in this province. Conservatives cannot be trusted to look after our interests, their only goals appear to be the enrichment of their corporate friends and retention of power. They want to rule not help.
Are these people crazy? Have they learned nothing from the many who had to loose their lives to bring these morbid conditions to light?
This is Terrible transition!!!! Wow how can these major life changing decisions be made without public knowledge? I have personally required home care services and as it was when I really needed the help I didn’t get it. I was prematurely sent home from the hospital that I had a horrible surgery that went wrong to requiring a hospital bed for 6 weeks in my home. I was supposed to be set up with home care by the discharge Community Care Access Centre. All the required paper work was completed. I was taken home by a wheel chair bus. No one came to help me. It was only phone calls with excuses and I was put off by every home care nursing service involved. Three nursing services that did nothing. Even the Occupational Therapist had half the time she should have given for her assessment. After being home for 3 weeks without having any assistance one of the managers dropped by and redid my entire intake that had already been done. She said inappropriate things and was laughing to lighten the mood she said. I was not able to bath myself or cook for myself. I ate sandwiches and cold cereal and toast for over a month. How does Mr Ford think that changing this to a profit system will work? It is not going to work for the people who need the help. As it was with the system we have now it’s really not much of anything and the least of minimal help. How do they justify their jobs I wonder when the person that needs help only gets phone calls and no home care service. They make their contacts by phone in my case, so the stat is there. Finally about 6 weeks of roughing it in my own I got a call to offer someone to help me shower. I told them I needed the help the first 6 weeks I was home and no one came. She took all the information I gave her and said well I will pass that along and I received a care plan in the mail with the letter. The care plan was made without the nurse ever meeting me, or talking to me to even know what I needed help with. A care plan that should have been implemented the first day I got home! That is the system we have, so I am extremely worried about this private system we are getting. With how the private nursing homes have been run into the ground I only see this as a worse case scenario waiting to happen. God help our poor seniors and disabled population!
Privatization, will make things worse than what they already are. Take a look at other countries that have done this, and are suffering the consequences.
It’s all about profit for big companies and it’s the elderly getting the short end of the stick again and again.
Honestly People open your eyes.
Put the shoe on the other foot.
This will not help the elderly in anyway.
I’m sick to even hear about this, hasn’t anyone learned what has been happening in any of our nursing homes private as well as government run homes since at least 2005.
Caregivers have been scaled back to a minimum.
Just get a gun and put me down before you let me live in one of these establishments.
Oh unless you can afford to pay 6 to 7 grand a month.
I find this extremely disturbing.
Is it not the lack of oversight that added hundreds of unnecessary deaths of seniors the past few months?
After the famous crocodile tears Doug is adding insult to injury. Didn’t take him long to revert back to his pig headed dictatorial ways. Between slapping the face of the nurses offering a 1% raise and this utter disregard for what has been exposed in these homes and it took the freakin army to go in and report the abuse and disgusting conditions seniors are living in. I am appalled and everyone should be. We could be the ones someday lying in our own urine and feces and treated harshly and without dignity. Who will protect our rights and inspect these facilities regularly to ensure the management are maintaining the basic requirements . Oh wait nobody! He already got rid of inspections!!
People we need to stop him.
??
Ford seems totally blind to the hypocrisy of his tears about the rising death toll of seniours in private care LTCs. As a moderate conservative, I will state categorically, that we have no truly conservative party anywhere in Canada. Ford contributed to the problem Harris created with his funding cuts and his reduced inspections of LTCs. The Libs had almost 15 years to fix the problem and did nothing. This is why I voted NDP in the past election. I will do all in my power to make sure that Ford is a one-term premier.
Profit is the god of Ontario to destroy the foundation of decency we once had. People’s lives are inconsequential. That was a good act you put on everyday in front of the news cameras but you didn’t fool as many as you think. I heard people say Doug has turned a corner in compassion because his mother-in-law is in care. What people forget is that no matter what home she is in she will get preferential services because she has a family member who is a politician. I was in nursing and I know exactly how the game is played. Your intent Mr Ford has always been to turn Ontario into a little America to mimic the trumpian model as a crass unethical incompetent leader at the helm so to allow the masses to suffer.
Ontarians are fed up with incompetent leadership. Time to act Ontario!
I’m sickened with this total disregard for human life. I’ve contacted my MPP. We must have our say! Halt bill 175!
The Reform Conservative agenda has always been there for every service affecting Canadians. This is just one of them, but the true cost was 1/2 of elderly people in LTC in Ont killed by an uncaring govt that did NOTHING to prevent and safeguard the elderly. Ford’s crocodile tears, fake empathy, blustering that he will ensure this never happens again only appeared when he and his bunch of thieves were exposed by the military despite the fact they had reports on this abuse from the very beginning of his taking office.
Meanwhile all along throughout this fake show of empathy he and his idiots were backroom dealing LTC to the very organization of people who caused this abuse and were profiting. Mike Harris former Cons Premier now Chair of the Board of Directors of Chartwell, he and his wife owners of companies profiting from LTC themselves orchestrating and directing Ford.
This is a corrupt government. Conservatives lie, cheat and steal no matter who dies to pay the price. This is the new Conservative agenda “The Final Solution” – elderly, disabled and vulnerable are a drain on the economy, killing them off by inaction, deliberate incompetence is their solution.
How are these public hearings taking place if public gatherings are limited to 5 people?
There would be a whole lot more the government could/would do if we were not in so much debt. After the Liberals debts and the Covid crisis there is going to be a serious lack of spending power the government is going to be able to call upon.
So what! What will happen to the seniors who cannot afford the high rates($3,000-$9,000) per month in a privately operated homecare?
They need to find the money to assist the care facilities now in existence. They need to have regular inspections.
These seniors have spent their lives paying taxes, working hard to care for families and communities and they will be left to fend for themselves?? Shameful!
The conservative government needs to rethink this!
This Bill is such a slippery slope already lined with mud. Ontarioans cannot let this happen. D. Ford you have shown us your compassion. Are you now showing us your bottom line???? ml
Penelope. One big outcome of the disastrous situation of LTC homes has been the demand for a thorough review of the whole system. It would be foolish and terribly damaging to preempt this review and consultation about restructuring. Doug Ford is the man who stopped the regular inspections of all LTC homes which might have caught and corrected problems before they became disasters. Home Care has been disorganized and inefficient for years and is due for a total review and restructuring. I have experienced several home care workers who have been hard workers and caring people, but their working conditions were terrible. They get paid little over minimum wage, are sent to clients all over the City, spending enormous amounts of time on travel between clients and often prevented from working sufficient hours to get benefits or make a reasonable living. Most I have talked with, say they mostly end up by doing whatever they can to get other work. THERE NEEDS TO BE REORGANIZATION AND ADEQUATE TRAINING, WAGES, SUPERVISION AND INSPECTION. Don’t let Doug Ford bypass the work that needs to happen for the health and safety of clients and staff into the future.
So… those were crocodile tears from Mr. Ford, about the deplorable conditions and so many deaths in LTC. This bill 175, should be tossed in the recycle bin and shredded– Followed by new legislation to establish standards of care, staff to patient ratios, and all of the safety pieces missing at present.
That Bill 175 is proceeding is very underhanded and undermines the leadership demonstrated by this leader/government during the pandemic. SHAME, SHAME!!!
I am so disgusted with Doug Ford rushing to pass a bill so that more seniors will die from lack of care in their most vulnerable years. He should be ashamed to stand there and pretend to be disgusted with the findings of neglect and the amount of deaths that have occurred in these homes.
I am appalled and disgusted with this plan, to privatize long term care homes. Ford’s ” shock ” at the reported conditions was obviously a big show ……. he couldn’t care less about the welfare of seniors and the people who try to care for them .
Doug Ford and his entire Family Compact are corrupt.
Nothing matters but money.
No Lives Matter but their own.
No waiting for 2022. We need to heave them OUT NOW!
There should NOT be privatization! This bill must not pass! It is unfortunate that the Conservatines were giver a majority in the last election!
There must be a case for criminal involvement in long-term care deaths on the part of both Mike Harris and Doug Ford.
Why isn’t there action taken, what is wrong with this system?!
Do criminals, PC / CON men get a free ride in Ontario and elsewhere?
No accountability, no justice, no true rule of law any more?
Do Ontarians just swallow everything, no matter how atrocious, except to voice sporadic bits of complaining that go nowhere?
I don’t understand how every appalling thing like this is left to stand in this province, this country, this land.
Is it general indifference? Laziness? Fair and cheap words not backed up by any real conviction or desire for fairness and justice?
Has everyone just given up and laid their hands impotently in their laps, shrugging off every single measure that strips away the remaining shreds of humanity, decency, and any values that aren’t linked to pure financial profit at the expense of everything else, including human lives and the health of an entire population?
Or does anything that isn’t jostling for power, profit, and empty hate-centred populist grandstanding in front of cameras in every rat-infested sewer and every fetid, corrupt, and morally bankrupt corridor and back alley of politics not matter any more?
Are people voting for their own demise here? Why?!
Out of hate? Cynicism, nihilism? Stupidity, short-sightedness?
Simple-minded myopic greed? Is that all?
Is that all that’s left on the ‘right’ side of the aisle and among the majority of the population who ends up voting these criminals into office again and again?
No one interested in demanding accountability from politicians now ruling without concern for ‘the masses,’ same as in old monarchic times?
‘Let them eat cake’?
Maybe it’s time for revolutions to make a return. And the bloody guillotine. To mete out justice to those judged guilty for wrongdoing and held accountable.
If official and utterly corrupt channels yield no result, except to make political and corporate criminals into ‘Teflon men’ who get away with everything, including crimes against humanity, whether with intent, or due to criminal negligence.
If you are appealing to the conscience of blindly greedy, corrupt, morally bankrupt criminals, and asking them psychopaths and sociopaths to have empathy and act in a humane way, you are deluding yourselves thinking you can plead with them to become more humane.
Either you boot them out and replace them with humane, sane, truly concerned people — or else, you have to use more drastic means of communicating with the psychopaths, sociopaths, criminals you chose to put into positions of power and given them the means to decide over our very lives.
Methods that may resonate with them, methods they understand and give a damn about.
The more you let one criminal get away with, the more you embolden the next criminal to try and push the envelope even further, knowing they won’t even be held accountable, let alone having to pay for their intentional or involuntary careless crimes and wrongdoings.
Doug Ford and others seem to act like Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and other anti-democracy despots of their kind.
I used to watch him when he was talking about Covid 19. Not anymore when I see that nothing he says is true and he is a mini Trump. So sad! Profit, profit, profit. ?
The rank smell of this is outrageous. File it under More of the Same.
I am disgusted. Vote him out
Why not be responsible for our own loved ones and direct funding to the families that need help with taking care of their elder? Why not change our attitude toward the elders in our family and take care of them ourselves? Yes that may mean not working outside the home and less money coming in to provide a particular lifestyle and less money for the economy; but they deserve one-on-one care. Yes I know that means that they will all be treated differently because families are different (economic,time,treatment, etc….). Yes I know that elder abuse is a possibility. Our children are vulnerable and yet we don’t place them somewhere to be raised. We have set up a system to protect vulnerable children, could we not set up a similar system to set up vulnerable elders that live at home if we took care of our own? I find it impossible to treat a human being with the dignity and love they deserve in a setting where they have to wait their turn (due to the impossibility of one-one-care) for hygiene, food, social, spiritual. We would be appalled if our children were treated the way our elders are treated in institutional settings. Do we love our elders differently than other vulnerable people in our family (children)? Why don’t we treat them the same?
I am appalled at the underhanded and dishonest approach the Ford government is taking to the burning current question of how to protect society’s elders. The daily statistics prove that the majority of deaths of elders in Ontario from Covid 19 have occurred in for profit long term care homes.
Lack of care, understaffing and staff who work in multiple homes, are directly responsible
for these deaths from Covid 19. Premier Ford how can you daily speak to Ontarians asking them to keep faith with one another by social distancing hand washing and self isolation when you are not keeping faith with us. The elders who served this province have a right to honest quality care in their final years. Do not betray them. A public inquiry into conditions that have killed many of them is essential.
The disgust I am feeling for the Ford government right now is sickening me! I am beyond appalled! Conservative governments all seem to be of the same ilk, no compassion or reason, only profits.
As citizens of this country, we have worked, paid taxes (through which they get paid!) and contributed to the economy by buying foods, electronics and commercial products from the very companies that pay out to corporations and the stockholders that invest – we contribute throughout our lives to those corporations, and once we are deemed no longer a contributor to their profits, we are warehoused in the most appalling manner until we die off, while they continue to profit off of the younger buying demographic.
This is what the corporations have done to us in their appalling greed – no longer content to just be a company humming along profitably, the sociopaths running these companies insist that we be squeezed to the limits of out wallets, and then discarded. Witness the VP of Sienna Living calling the worried family members “blood-sucking, class-action lawsuit people” followed by personally ridiculing family members who asked questions.
Saying that out loud in a corporate setting tells me that she was quite comfortable doing that, and speaks to the ethos of that company, which I’m sure is prevalent in many LTC homes. And this woman, I’m sure, goes swanning around in high society pretending to be a caring an kind person – as long as you have money, that is.
We live in a world where the social contract is broken, we are useful; only as long as we can pay, and the corporate glitterati will kick us to the curb as soon as they’ve emptied our wallets. And they are helped by politicians like Ford, who’s only concern is sharing in the profits that he can engender with legislation that makes sure we have no voice in our own future care, even though we contribute towards the costs – and his very handsome salary.
How do these people manage to look at themselves in the mirror? Do they just grin at themselves and say ‘hey, more money for me!’ How much money do they rally need?
I think all comments should be emailed to Doug Ford directly.
It is incomprehensible that privatization is even being considered considering the inhumane issues that came about in the LTCH
I am appalled and disgusted, but not surprised that the Ford government is pushing through a privatization bill for long-term care. What we need is for long-term care to be a public system of care and come under national healthcare. Most of the COVID19 deaths that have occurred in long-term care hones have been in private for-profit homes! We need all staff in long-term care homes to be paid well for their hard work. We need enough PSWs working so that they are able to do their work well and with humanity. Privatization does not lead to better care, it leads to cutting where ever possible to turn a profit. This is a completely inane model for care! We must stop this.
It appears Doug Ford says one thing in front of the reporters, i.e., the deplorable conditions in the Long Term Care Homes, and then he makes deals behind closed doors contradicting himself!!! He should be ashamed of his actions.
My husband, who passed away in January was a recipient of home care by CCAC .. then LHINS for a few yrs before his death. We were very concerned with the treatment the PSWs were given by their management . Because of part time hours that changed their schedules constantly and low pay, many of them were given no choice but to have two and three jobs just to pay their bills. Management was under constant scrutiny to cut their costs making their jobs intolerable.
My husband was a resident of a PRIVATELY OWNED RETIREMENT HOME for a couple of yrs before his death and we were going Broke trying to cover their increasing costs. A CHARGE FOR EVERY MOVE ANY EMPLOYEE MADE WAS ANOTHER CHARGE ADDED TO HIS MONTHLY BILL. We were obliged to deal with the PHARMACY chosen by the retirement home and those charges were exorbitant and unexplainable.
An EXTRA CHARGE was even added to his monthly bill because a member of staff would go down the hall and call out (dinner is ready).
THAT IS what happens when things are privately operated. EVERY FACILITY DOES WHAT THEY WANT WITH NO ACCOUNTABILIT.
It is very unfortunate that this is being pushed through during the pandemic. People who are receiving home care should have been made aware of this and had input.
I am very disappointed with is. I would think that the majority of people who are currently receiving home care will not be able to afford the cost, or receive adequate care when it is changed to private.
During the pandemic there has been focus on vulnerable people. This is leaving these vulnerable people without adequate affordable, accountable care.
This is very unfortunate. I had thought that Doug Ford was doing a very good job during the pandemic but unaware that this bill was being pushed thru.
This Premier and his people are in it for the money and nothing else. They don’t really care about the seniors in long term care, or they wouldn’t have passed this bill behind everyone’s back. I would suggest we bombard the Premiers office with e-mails, calls, etc. (google message the Premier) and let’s drive them crazy until they change things. We cannot just stand by and watch this madman ruin our long term care facilities in the name of the all mighty dollar. Push and do whatever you can to put a stop to this, otherwise we are setting ourselves up for disaster. What a horrible provincial government we are stuck with. They really care about nobody but the dollar. Sad, sad time.
How do we fight this? Is it too late? Bye bye Doug Ford.
Perhaps CARP has a petition, come on this will be a disaster for seniors, the elderly and a nightmare for their families.
I am completely against the privatization of all retirement homes. It should be public like the hospital.