LABOUR
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Private seniors’ care trending up At one time, all seniors’ care was in private hands in Canada. Then, following the birth of Medicare in the mid-1960s, a drive to bring seniors’ care under public ownership took place. However, since the late 1990s and early 2000s, in many provinces, depending on the political stripe of the government in power, there has been a sustained and deliberate effort to move away from public care and back to private seniors’ care. In Ontario, successive Progressive Conservative governments aggressively expanded for-profit, long-term care beds during their time in power between 1996 and 2003, and then again from 2018 to today. In 1998, Premier Mike Harris’ government committed to building 20,000 new long-term care beds. The majority went to forprofit corporations. This shifted long-term care in that province from one dominated by public and non-profit operators to one that is now majority private – nearly 60 per cent of all operators are now for-profit. Now, more than 20 years later, the next generation of Ontario Conservatives are picking up where the Harris regime left off. Coming out of a pandemic where Ontario’s long-term care
homes experienced among the worst death rates in the world, Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government took two actions on seniors’ care. First, in 2021, they legislated an end to shared rooms of more than two people, requiring the renewal of 30,300 outdated beds by 2025. Then they pledged in 2022 to build 30,000 new beds by 2030. The catch is that most of these renewed and new beds are slated to be run by for-profit corporations. But it gets worse, say public health care advocates. “As part of their privatization drive, the Ford government is awarding corporations that have a long history of poor care coupled with some of the highest pandemic death rates,” says Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra. “In fact, the top 10 bid-winners are all for-profit chains, including those with the very worst records for resident deaths, negligence, and inadequate care.” Back here in B.C., a similar shift to private care took place under the BC Liberals, now BC United, starting in 2001. At the beginning of their 16 years in office, less than one-infive seniors’ care homes were operated by for-profit companies. By the end of Premier Gordon
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette PHOTO
Nearly two-thirds of seniors’ care facilities in Ontario are now run by private companies
SAVE OUR SENIORS | People protest outside the Tendercare Living Centre long-term-care facility during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scarborough, Ontario. The Ontario Health Coalition says that the Ford government is awarding new private care contracts to companies with some of the highest pandemic death rates.
Campbell and Christy Clark’s combined reigns in 2017, about a third of B.C.’s care homes were operated by private for-profit operators, a third by non-profits, and a third by public health authorities. “Thankfully, the ability to privatize more beds was constrained following the election of a BC NDP government,” says HEU secretary-business manager Meena Brisard. “Plus, modest efforts are now underway to build new public and non-profit beds helping
reverse the trend under the BC Liberals.” That said, with a provincial election looming in just under a year’s time, the trend for seniors’ care could shift back to private interests. And that’s why, Brisard says, HEU will be looking to secure a firm commitment from party leaders that any new care spaces built going forward be only publicly or non-profit-run – and not operated by private companies. NEIL MONCKTON
NOTEBOOK
New union staff to advance equity mandate MY NAME is Jennifer Reddy. This summer, I joined HEU staff to lead our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) work on behalf of our members. I have served on the Vancouver School Board since 2018, and have worked in a variety of social planning positions in government and non-profits, with a focus on public engagement and policy. I’m excited to support HEU’s important equity goals, building on the hard work and achievements of members, locals and leaders. At the 2018 HEU convention, delegates directed the union to embark on a DEIA project. The first phase of this work led to the creation of six new diversity vice-president positions on the Provincial Executive, elected at the 2022 convention. Looking ahead, your equity office — including
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The project’s goal is to nurture, empower and support leadership
myself, equity officer Sharryn Modder and administrative assistant Morgan Dymond — will facilitate a review of HEU’s Constitution and By-Laws, engage in new research to better understand who our members are, and work to uncover barriers to union participation. Our DEIA project’s goal is to identify and address inequities in order to nurture, empower and support leadership in the wider labour movement, and in our communities. I am honoured to work alongside you to advance the important work of making HEU a truly equitable, just and inclusive union. To receive email updates about HEU’s equity and inclusion work, go to heu.org/dei-signup. JENNIFER REDDY (she/her) is Senior Advisor – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility at the Hospital Employees’ Union.
