(October 7, 2020)<\/p>\n
By: Mark Brown, BlackburnNews<\/p>\n
The Ontario Health Coalition is calling on the provincial government to act on staffing issues in long-term care facilities.<\/p>\n
To ensure its concerns will be heard at Queens Park, the coalition will sponsor a Day of Action on Thursday, complete with vehicle parades and media conferences scheduled at locations across the province.<\/p>\n
With the long-term care industry deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the coalition has turned to the government for help, believing that Ontario is lagging behind other provinces in making improvements.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no clear recruitment plan and they will not address the longstanding issues with lack of full-time work and poor conditions,\u201d read a media release from the coalition. \u201cQuebec and British Columbia acted months ago and are doing more. We are calling for immediate action by the Ford government to recruit & train staff, improve pay and working conditions and provide full-time work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Events on Thursday will be limited to 25 people at a time due to provincial pandemic-control regulations. To compensate, participants are invited to join in motorcades and press conferences with physical distancing.<\/p>\n
The Day of Action begins at 9:30 a.m. Thursday outside Queens Park in Toronto, with a motorcade and an online media conference.\u00a0At 11 a.m., local events will take place across Ontario.<\/p>\n
In Windsor, a demonstration is set for outside Heron Terrace on McNorton Road. In Chatham-Kent, an event is planned for outside the constituency office of MPP Rick Nicholls on Heritage Road.<\/p>\n