Care Watch keeps a close eye for opportunities to contribute to discussions and influence legislation and policy. We respond to invitations for feedback and look for other opportunities to promote home and community services. Our comments include submissions to officials, commissions, government bodies, and other individuals and groups.
Submission to the Standing Committee on Social Policy Regarding Bill 60: Your Health Act, 2023
March 27, 2023
Care Watch opposes Bill 60, which would transfer many surgical and diagnostic procedures to private (often for-profit) clinics. We believe the results will be service barriers, higher costs, weaker standards, and greater pressures on public hospitals. We recommend withdrawing the bill and concentrating instead on recruiting and retaining the health professionals the system sorely needs.
February 2023
A government uses its budget to express its priorities. We call on the government of Ontario to build and fund a comprehensive system of care for older adults that starts in homes and communities. We ask for significant investments in home and community services; priority for community-based non-profit agencies; a provincial strategy to recruit and retain personal support workers; equal pay for personal support workers across homes, communities, and institutions; and a secure place for home and community services within planning and funding structures.
2023 City of Toronto Budget – Letter to Mayor Tory
January 16, 2023
Municipalities are responsible for public health, transportation, housing, and recreational opportunities – the conditions that keep older adults in their homes and communities. We ask the mayor and the budget committee to invest in housing for older adults and in the local community agencies that deliver home care and personal services. We also urge Toronto to advocate to the provincial government for wage equality so that the workers who deliver these community services earn as much as those who work in institutions.
January 2022
Older adults want to remain in their homes and communities as long as possible. The number, always high, grew when COVID-19 exposed the conditions that sickened and killed many residents of long-term care homes. Now, nearly 100% of older Canadians say they want to stay in their homes and not live in institutions.
Submission to the Standing Committee on Social Policy on Bill 283 (Regulatory Authority for PSWs)
May 2021
Regulation of personal support workers and similar care workers has been discussed for some time. We understand and appreciate the value of professional regulation and, in general, support the initiative. However, we have several concerns.
Submission to the 2021 Pre-Budget Hearings
February 2021
Home care is the first line of support for older adults and the health care system. Older adults living safely at home are less likely to go to emergency rooms or to end up in hospitals or long-term care homes. Keeping people in their homes can relieve pressure on current long-term care beds as well as on the new beds being built. It also makes sound financial sense.
Submission to Ontario’s Nursing Home COVID-19 Inquiry
November 2020
Care Watch welcomes the nursing home COVID-19 inquiry. Home care and institutional care serve many of the same clients. They also draw workers from the same pool. What the inquiry teaches us will benefit the system as a whole.
Withdraw Bill 175 – Letter to Premier Doug Ford and Minister Christine Elliott
June 2020
Care Watch agrees that home and community care needs reform and modernization, but this is not the time. Careful consideration and further consultation will result in stronger legislation.
Bill 175 – Connecting People to Home and Community Care Act
May 2020
Care Watch applauds government’s goal of modernizing home and community care. We recommend including commitment to the principles of the Canada Health Act, as well as strengthening accountability of providers, enforcing the client Bill of Rights, addressing cybersecurity and privacy, and protecting not-for-profit service delivery.
Care Watch 