Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled
  Whereas:
  
    COVID-19 has exposed both the degradation and suffering of vulnerable seniors in many long-term care (LTC) facilities, and the instability of the work force;
    Privatization and deregulation have eroded the care seniors receive and profit is made at a cost to seniors, workers and taxpayers;
    The number of direct care hours allocated per resident is neither standardized nor regulated;
    Profit is made by underpaying and overworking frontline staff, which leads to high turnover and employment in multiple facilities,  increasing risk of infections;
    Profit is made by subcontracting food, laundry and other services often to the lowest bidder;
    Government doesn’t have an effective monitoring system to identify substandard care in LTC facilities, nor enforceable consequences; and
    Family members or councils are often the first to identify inadequate care.
  
  
    We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon  Paul Manly to:
    1. Include long-term care in the public health system under the Canada Health Act;
    2. Work with provinces to develop national standards for person-centred relational care that includes the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario’s Basic Care Guarantee staffing formula;
    3. Eliminate profit-making by government-funded corporate for-profit chains by  ensuring funds provided are spent as allocated and by banning subcontracting;
    4. Standardize equitable and living wages and benefits, and implement single-site employment, for all staff;
    5. Ensure government oversight and initiate strong penalties and claw-backs for facilities not complying with standards and regulations; and
    6. Require independent family councils with protected rights.