Both Judith Monteith-Farrell and Michael Gravelle were disappointed that the needs of Northwestern Ontario weren’t mentioned in the Throne Speech.
Monday’s address promised no new taxes and new legislation aimed at improving the Long Term Care sector ahead of the June 2022 provincial election.
Farrell, the NDP member for Thunder Bay-Atikokan, tells Acadia News that the government is holding onto $5.6 billion that the federal government handed down to address concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Ottawa gave a lot of help but what we saw from Queen’s Park was a lot of inaction in some cases and just ignoring problems,” Farrell added.
Back in September, the Financial Accountability Office released a report that indicated that during the first quarter of 2021, Ontario did not spend any funds from a new $2.7 billion COVID-19 response program.
A spokesperson for the Minister of Health immediately disagreed with the findings, noting that the money is allocated for the entire year.
Thunder Bay-Superior North Liberal member Michael Gravelle felt what the government discussed at Queen’s Park was old news and offered no updates.
“They discussed continued funding for the health care system,” Gravelle stated. “They also talked about the need to increase the workforce in long term care facilities and to grow the amount of hours that each residents has in terms of care, which is great our party supports it, but the bottom line is we need more.”
Ontario also announced Monday that as of November 15, fully COVID vaccinations will be mandatory for all in-home staff, support workers, students and volunteers.
Monteith-Farrell notes there is a loophole in the rule, stating “Even though they work in long-term care, many Personal Support Workers (PSW) work in home care as well because the wages are so low and they need to work two jobs. The province isn’t mandating vaccinations in home care settings.”
The President of the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce Charla Robinson had no comments to share about the speech when asked by Acadia News Monday.
