Ontario has stepped up investment in home care services for seniors, as the province strives to meet the needs of an aging population and strengthen the country's public healthcare system.
The investment is badly needed and comes at a time when growing home care wait lists have left more than 10,000 vulnerable Ontarians and their families begging for care.
The increase in the provincial budget is expected to mean funding for local home care services will climb by up to 3 per cent in communities like Sudbury, Brampton, Ottawa and Toronto - though no safeguards were added to stop the funding flowing to CEO bonuses instead of care.
The budget relief was welcomed by seniors, family caregivers, people with chronic illnesses, and frontline healthcare workers across the province, who called for accompanying measures to improve quality through training standards for Personal Support Workers and continuity of care for patients.
"With wait lists growing and more than 90 per cent of home care workers living in poverty, it is vital these investments go straight to frontline care. We cannot afford to waste money on bureaucracy and CEO bonuses," said Sharleen Stewart, head of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Investing in care at home is fiscally prudent and can help ease pressure on over-stretched Emergency Rooms, according to Ms. Stewart, who represents more than 50,000 healthcare workers in Ontario.
SEIU applauded the government for: rejecting calls to lay off 37,000 nurses and frontline healthcare workers; committing to negotiate a good deal for Ontario when the next health accord is struck with Ottawa; and enhancing breast cancer screening to complete more than 90,000 more exams.
Long Term Care homes will also see their budgets climb, though much of this funding has already been earmarked for executive compensation and payouts to shareholders by the large for-profit nursing home chains, like Extendicare, that dominate the sector in Ontario.
"At a time when caregivers in nursing homes and hospitals are stretched to breaking point, we cannot afford to let executives pocket more than their fair share. These CEOs have the key to the safe and are helping themselves to tax dollars," said Ms. Stewart.
"Enough already, cap CEO pay."