Make elder care No. 1 priority in election

More than 32,000 people are waitlisted for long-term care in Ontario. A majority of people already in facilities are aged 85 or older; almost three-quarters of them have dementia of some sort. Canada’s, and Ontario’s, long-term care crisis is ballooning rapidly.

Staff in long-term care homes are overworked, and families and the elderly are paying more and more for private help to compensate. Yet instances of neglect or abuse at institutions still surface. Meanwhile, private retirement residences, which are not supposed to be nursing homes, provide more and more care, with much higher fees, than Ontario’s price-controlled long-term care facilities.

It may seem that the answer to this demographic deluge is tighter regulation. But that’s not clear. As Robert Morton, interim head of Advant Age Ontario, which represents non-profit long-term care homes, points out, more rules don’t always spur solutions. “We know if you control and constrain a system, you drive out innovation and creativity and you don’t end up with quality,” he said.

Experts are studying other models to help the elderly, such as more support staying in their homes or a healthier approach to institutional care.

But how many of our MPPs, or those running to become one, have taken the time to study alternative models of elder care? Most provincial politicians seem stuck on a vision that teeters on the verge of failure.

We challenge the main parties to identify long-term care, and particularly elder care, as a top priority for debate and public discussion in the next election campaign. We want to hear specific, coherent policies to confront the serious issues afflicting our aging population, beyond promises to throw money into a system that clearly requires much more than mere dollars.

We’ll acknowledge the challenge is complex. Show Ontario voters how you will approach finding solutions. The NDP, for instance, has demanded that the public inquiry into former nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer’s murders at Ontario nursing homes be expanded to delve into all facets of long-term care.

Deeper discussion from all parties ought to frame every all-candidates’ debate, every door-to-door stop, every piece of campaign literature between now and June.

Many politicians claim they’re in public life to help the most vulnerable. Good: Start with elder care.