Victoria, British Columbia – A re-elected Liberal government will move forward to improve working conditions for frontline care workers and better support Canada’s seniors.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for seniors, especially for those living in long-term care. As a country, we know that we can’t let that happen again. Canadians and their families deserve to feel confident in the care seniors receive, no matter where they live.
“Better care for seniors starts with better conditions for our frontline care workers,” said Justin Trudeau, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. “To ensure these tragedies never happen again and to build a better future for seniors, we need to work together to improve conditions and raise wages for the dedicated personal support workers who help care for them.”
While recognizing that the management of long-term care facilities is under provincial and territorial jurisdiction, a re-elected Liberal government will work with them to continue supporting seniors by:
- Raising wages for personal support workers, including a guaranteed minimum wage of at least $25 per hour;
- Training up to 50,000 new personal support workers;
- Doubling the Home Accessibility Tax Credit, which will provide up to an additional $1,500 to help seniors stay in their homes longer by making them more accessible;
- Improving the quality and availability of long-term care home beds;
- Continuing to implement strict infection prevention and control measures, including through more provincial and territorial facility inspections for long-term care homes; and
- Developing a Safe Long Term Care Act collaboratively to ensure that seniors are guaranteed the care they deserve, no matter where they live.
This builds on the immediate actions the Liberal government took to help seniors when they needed it the most, including:
- Putting up to $875 directly in the pockets of eligible seniors to help them through the pandemic;
- Deploying the Canadian Armed Forces to long-term care homes at the request of the provinces and territories and providing funding to the Red Cross for immediate support;
- Supplying PPE, contact tracing support, rapid testing, and other pandemic control measures to long-term care homes, in collaboration with provinces and territories; and
- Providing wage boosts for essential workers, including personal support workers.
“Personal support workers and health care workers are the heroes on the frontlines of our pandemic response,” said Mr. Trudeau. “As a country, we know we have to do better – but Erin O’Toole won’t support the people who help care for our parents and grandparents. We can’t move backward with Conservative cuts to care for seniors. We have to keep moving forward — for everyone.”
