The federal government and New Brunswick have signed an agreement under which $ 22 million will be spent on improving the care of residents of long-term care homes in the province.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement during a stop at the Dalhousie Golden Age Adult Club on Tuesday afternoon, joined by Provincial Social Development Minister Bruce Fitch and Federal Ministers Dominic LeBlanc and Ginette Petitpas Taylor.
Trudeau acknowledged the challenges posed by the “pandemic” and the tensions borne by healthcare professionals and long-term care patients.
“We know, especially in terms of staff, it’s been an incredibly difficult two years because people have been overwhelmed with work,” Trudeau said, noting that people are “getting stronger” to help by retiring or volunteering. communities. .
“But we must not rely on our reciprocity to overcome the dark times. We must have strong systems.”
The bilateral agreement on a safe long-term care fund aims to strengthen the system, he said.
Trudeau congratulated residents ahead of the announcement of the funding, which took place at the Golden Age Club in Dalhousie on Tuesday afternoon. (CPAC)
The funding will help long-term care homes retain and hire staff, implement infection prevention and control measures and upgrade or upgrade heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, he said.
About $ 6.7 billion will be spent in four years to “improve the quality and availability of long-term care homes and beds,” while $ 1.8 billion will be spent in four years to raise personal assistance salaries to at least $ 25 an hour and train another 50,000 of them.
Social Development Minister Bruce Fitch thanked the Trudeau government for “trying to make life better” for the New Brunswickers and 11,600 residents of its 546 long-term care facilities.
“It’s no secret that New Brunswick is getting old,” Fitch said.
Bruce Fitch, New Brunswick’s social development minister, addressed the crowd during Tuesday’s funding announcement. (CPAC)
The province has a higher proportion of older people than most Canadian provinces. Data from the Fraser Institute, collected in 2020, show that the elderly make up 21.3% of the population of New Brunswick, which is the second largest of all provinces, after Newfoundland and Labrador, with 21.4%
“We want to prepare New Brunswick to respond better and meet the needs of our seniors… and make sure they get the care they deserve,” Fitch said.
Fitch reiterated Trudeau’s acknowledgment of the challenges facing the long-term care system during the pandemic.
“The last two years have been difficult in this sector … and every time I’m close to a microphone, I want to take the time to tell you a lot, a lot about all the hard work that the staff has done to help the elderly here, in the province of New Brunswick. “
The money was originally announced in 2020
The money, announced on Tuesday, is New Brunswick’s share of the $ 1 billion safe long-term care fund, originally announced in the government’s economic declaration a year and a half ago, Trudeau confirmed on Tuesday.
“This is an agreement signed after a statement made in the autumn of 2020,” he said. “But, yes, funding will flow now.”
When asked, he did not say directly why it took so long for the deal to be announced.
“In recent years, we have made significant investments in care across the country, in investment for the elderly in long-term care,” he said.
“We also, in next year’s budget, in the 2021 budget, have announced an investment of $ 3 billion to support long-term care, and they are in talks with the provinces.
“And in the 2022 budget that came out a few weeks ago, we have more support and messages for older people.”
Last August, Trudeau said the re-elected liberal government would spend $ 9 billion to address the dangerous shortcomings in Canada’s long-term care sector that were exposed by the pandemic.
Long-term care accounts for about 80% of all reported COVID-19 deaths during the first wave of the pandemic, and continues to account for a disproportionate share of deaths until vaccines become widely available.
The Liberals’ plan also called for a new law on safe long-term care that would set national standards for care in a sector that is run almost entirely by provinces and territories.
But the money for long-term care was one of the many promises of the liberal campaign that remained outside the federal budget for 2022-23.
It envisions just $ 1 million in new long-term care spending after fiscal 2021-2022.
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