Ontario needs the real deal
Premier Doug Ford wants credit for being the first provincial leader to put his hand up and say, “I want a commission” to examine the devastating impact of COVID-19 in long-termcare homes. The problem, though, is that Ontario needs a public inquiry. Independent commission or public inquiry — it may not seem there’s much of a difference between them, but there is. Ford is in the right ballpark but he’s trying to play the wrong game.
A public inquiry is a transparent, fact-finding mission with broad powers to compel witnesses and documents. It can also propose policy reforms, whether or not the government of the day likes the sound of them.
A government commission, on the other hand, will give the Ford government control over everything from what’s scrutinized to what’s released to the public.
A government could probably create a commission that was truly independent and transparent, with a broad mandate and powers, one that could land in a similar place as a public inquiry. But this is not that government.
Ford proved that with his “independent financial commission of inquiry” into the provincial books in 2018, which gave him just what he wanted — a hidden provincial deficit. Never mind that it was later debunked by the provincial auditor general and financial accountability officer; Ford continued to claim, as recently as Tuesday, that it was completely accurate.
That’s why this government can’t be trusted to do the right thing with a commission into something as important as Ontario’s long-term-care system. We need a real public inquiry.
The reason to hold one is not just to unearth all that’s gone wrong over the past few months, which allowed COVID-19 to spread in care homes so easily and cause such devastating loss of life. We know much of that already. The provincial and federal stockpiles of personal protective equipment were entirely inadequate to the task, and what PPE was available wasn’t always properly distributed or used in care homes. Ontario took great pains to prepare hospitals for what was coming but didn’t put the same attention into the care homes where our oldest and most vulnerable live out their days.
Underpaid and part-time staff working in multiple homes increased the infection risk. The homes themselves are understaffed at the best of times and the older buildings, with multiple residents per room and crowded public spaces, might as well be a calling card for the coronavirus.
No one wants to read an inquiry report, thousands of pages long, two years from now that says the province failed to properly stockpile PPE.
What Ontarians really want to know is how to fix — once and for all — the systemic problems in long-term care that have been laid bare by the pandemic.
It must be free of political interference and public inquiries have a much better track record in that regard than government commissions, not matter how often they’re called “independent.”
Ford and Merrilee Fullerton, the minister of long-term care, have said they’ve opted for a commission because it’s faster than an inquiry and we simply can’t afford to delay.
That’s a red herring. Calling a public inquiry doesn’t stop the government from taking immediate action to safeguard and improve the lives of seniors in nursing homes.
The government can require — and fund — higher standards of care in nursing homes in short order. All that takes is political will.
The backward-looking examination into the mistakes made during the pandemic that caused such devastating loss of life and the forward-looking exploration into what kind of homes and care standards provide the best outcomes for seniors can then be left to an inquiry. Ford says we don’t have the time to do the job right. But if he truly wants to fix the problems in long-term care — which were dramatically exposed by COVID-19, but not created by it — Ontario can’t afford to rush.