REALITY CHECK: Liberal MPs protect greed in LTC

Nobody should be profiting off the care of our seniors. This is the crux of the NDP’s Opposition Day in Parliament. And it should be a no-brainer for all-party support following the tragic failure of for-profit long-term care homes throughout COVID.

Yet in a recent town hall hosted by Canadian4LTC, two Liberal MPs were already ignoring data and referencing anecdotal evidence to undermine removing greed in long-term care:

“If we don’t get the national standards in, you can eliminate all the corporate profit care and you still won’t have the level of care that we think seniors deserve. I'm open to the argument that ... private care can't be as good as public care, I'd like to see the data that backs that up.”

-Etobicoke Centre MP, Yvan Baker, timestamp 53:50

"In the pandemic, I noted that some of the best and least affected homes were for profit ones in my riding … I have 2 for profit homes that had no cases of COVID, when all of my public ones had many, many cases."

-Mont-Royal MP, Anthony Housefather, timestamp 50:20

Evidence has been clear - greed in long-term care led to worst outcomes. A recent report showed that Ontario's for-profit nursing homes have 78% more COVID-19 deaths than non-profit homes and showed that chain private ownership is one of the main risk factors for serious outbreaks.

Even anecdotally, these MPs should remember the horrible stories that happened in for profit long-term care centres in their backyards at Vigi Mont-Royal in Montreal and Eatonville Care Centre in Etobicoke.

While Liberals side with wealthy shareholders, big corporations and profits — New Democrats side with seniors, their families, and frontline health care workers.

Canadian seniors deserve so much better.