NDP sounds the alarm as Ford’s Conservatives prepare to repeat past mistakes in long-term care

QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario NDP MPP Jennifer French (Oshawa) and NDP Critic for Long-Term Care, Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls), issued the following statements in response to Pickering Council’s rejection of the proposal to expand the operations of Orchard Villa, a private, for-profit Southbridge-operated long-term care home:

“Ford’s Conservatives are ignoring the local community who had to experience the horror of seeing life after life being lost at Orchard Villa,” said French, who has worked closely with families that lost loved ones in Orchard Villa during the pandemic. “For three years, this government has heard from the families and communities that extending the license for this company is not acceptable.”

Orchard Villa had one of the worst track records when it came to patient care during the pandemic. It was one of the long-term care homes forced to call in the Canadian Armed Forces, and 80 residents died.

“These families need justice. Seniors in our province need compassionate care,” French said “Instead, this government keeps letting for-profit bad actors off the hook and continues to give them more access. Long-term care for seniors needs to be care-driven, not profit driven. The Minister and this government simply do not have a compassionate, long-term plan.”

“The lack of accountability in the long-term care space for for-profit bad actors like Southbridge is absolutely alarming,” said Gates. “The Minister of Long-Term Care - both the current one and the previous one - have failed to hold private providers with terrible track records to account for their wrongdoings. Instead, Ford Conservatives are sticking to corporate interests and continuing to issue licenses to for-profit providers. We need to move towards a model that invests in more non-profit and public long-term care homes, where the care of our seniors will be prioritized over the need for profitability.”