For Sudbury front-line LTC staff, Ontario PCs failure to make care for vulnerable residents better, key ballot box issue

SUDBURY, ON –(COMMUNITYWIRE)– Sudbury front-line long-term care (LTC) staff are urging voters before they cast a ballot on February 27 to take a critical look at the Ontario Doug Ford government’s failure to make care and the lives of vulnerable residents better.

“After all that COVID has taught us about the gaps in care and staffing in LTC, Doug Ford promised to fix things. He’s failed to deliver on this promise. How a government treats our most vulnerable and the workers who provide care for them, says a lot about their priorities. It’s clear to those of us who work in LTC, that improving residents’ wellbeing by ensuring adequate staffing levels, isn’t even on their radar. There is no meaningful workforce strategy to deal with staffing shortages and attracting and retaining new front-line care staff to make care better,” said Jason Harasymchuk, a Sudbury registered practical nurse (RPN), speaking on behalf of CUPE Local 1182 at a media conference today.

Although the PCs passed legislation for a daily resident care standard of four hours a while ago, “we are sadly, not there yet. We only have a fraction of the new LTC beds the PC’s promised. At the rate they are going, it will take 125 years to add the 30,000 beds they promised by 2028. Working conditions have not improved, we are chronically understaffed. The PCs are falling far short,” said Harasymchuk.

The PCs promised to increase beds by 30,000 by 2028 and by 15,000 by 2023/24. But in their own 2024/2025 budget, they report that only 2,246 new beds have opened. That is just 15% of their promise of the number of beds they would create by 2023/24. In the 2024/25 Fall Economic Statement the government increased its claim, noting that they have added 2,385. That’s an extra 139 beds over seven months. That amounts to a 3.0% increase in the total number of LTC beds. But the population of the relevant age group (75+), increased by 21% between 2018 and 2023.

“So, when people vote, they should consider that when it comes to LTC beds and adequate staffing, Ontario has fallen far short of need. The government’s promises are not being carried out,” said Harasymchuk. He encouraged all those running in the upcoming Ontario election to prioritize elder care and make it better by:

• Immediately implementing the legislated four hours of care per resident per day;
• Rapidly increasing LTC bed capacity to meet the needs of aging and growing population.
• Making more work in LTC full-time.
• Increasing pay for all job categories in LTC to retain and attract front-line staff.

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For more information, contact:

Stella Yeadon, CUPE Communications
416-559-9300
syeadon@cupe.ca